Five children who were playing near a pond in Aurangabad district drowned on Monday after they slipped into it.

The victims were playing at Salaia village in Aurangabad district, around 100km west of Gaya and about 225km southwest of Patna, when they decided to go into the nearby pond to play with water. There were no banks around the pond and the children, aged between five and nine years, slipped in the mud into the pond.

Residents of the area, who rushed to save the children, said the five had drowned before they could reach there. The bodies have been fished out from the pond.

The victims have been identified as Salaia residents Nirasha (9), Chandani (8), Nandini (7), Guli Pandey (8) and Piyush Pandey (5).