Bhagalpur, Oct. 23: A teenaged girl and a minor boy died today in a landslip at an abandoned orchard at Bikhanpur while collecting soil for a Diwali ritual.
Nine others, all children, were injured in the accident. Rampant digging, which created a deep ditch on one side of the orchard, is suspected to have triggered the unfortunate incident.
Sources said the victims were collecting soil to make gharondas (small structures resembling houses that are worshiped during Diwali) when a chunk of about 10-12 feet of mud fell on them around 11.30am near Barai Tola, Gumti No-2 at Bikhanpur.
Chanderi, daughter of Mohammed Irfan Ansari and a second year student of SM College, died on the spot, while Parmanand (8), son of Sudhir Tanti, died at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital. The condition of 12-year-old Sagar, son of Satyanarayan Prasad, was critical. He is battling for life at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) with head injuries.
Block additional district supply officer Kamal Kumar Jaiswalsaid a big ditch was formed in the area because of digging by the residents for years together. “The accident occurred at one of the many edges of the ditch. The ditch was over 25-foot-deep,” he said. All the victims were slum dwellers and their parents worked as either rickshaw pullers or daily wagers.
State health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubeymade arrangements to send Sagar to PMCH in a special ambulance. “I tried to get a helicopter to airlift Sagar to Patna. But the formalities took too much time. Besides, helicopters cannot land in Bhagalpur during late hours because of the poor infrastructure of the air strip,” he told The Telegraph.
“Today was the last Sunday before Diwali and our schools and colleges were closed. We decided to collect soil to decorate our kachcha house and make gharondas for Diwali,” said Chanderi’s 10-year-old sister Mumtaz. “There were at least a dozen of my friends in the field. All of us, including my sister, were busy digging when the accident occurred. I became unconscious immediately after the soil caved in,” added Mumtaz, who escaped unhurt.
