Six students drown in Jharkhand dam; Guv, CM condole deaths

Six students of Class-12 drowned on Tuesday in Lotwa Dam in Jharkhand's Hazaribag district, where they had gone for a picnic “bunking” school

Hazaribag: Six students of Class-12 drowned on Tuesday in Lotwa Dam in Jharkhand’s Hazaribag district, where they had gone for a picnic “bunking” school, officials said.

The students were aged between 17 and 18 years, they said.

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The incident occurred around 11 am in the dam, about 25 km from Hazaribag town.

“Six bodies have been fished out… and sent to Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College for post-mortem examination,” SP Manoj Ratan Chothe told PTI.

The principal of the school claimed that the students left their homes in uniform on Tuesday morning, but did not attend classes, and instead, went to the dam.

“In all, 18 students of Class-12 were absent today,” he added.

Jharkhand Governor C P Radhakrishnan and Chief Minister Hemant Soren condoled the death of the students.

“It is very sad and painful to know about the drowning of six children in Lotwa Dam of Hazaribagh district. I express my deepest condolences to the family members. May God give them the strength to bear this grief,” Radhakrishnan said on X.

In another post on X, Soren said: “May God grant peace to the souls of the children who died in the accident and give strength to the bereaved families to bear the grief in this difficult hour.” The deceased have been identified as Rajnish Pandey, Sumit Kumar, Mayank Singh, Praveen Gope, Ishan Singh and Shivsagar Singh.