Four children drown in Godavari river

BEED - Four children, aged between four and eight years, drowned in the Godavari river in Maharashtra’s Beed district Sunday, police said.

A group of five children from Hingangaon village located on the banks of Godavari had gone to bathe in the river at around 11 a.m. When the children did not return home an hour later, their families started looking for them and found their bodies by the river bank.

“The villagers were able to rescue one girl who has been admitted to the Beed Civil Hospital,” said police inspector K.T. Tandale of Gevarai police station.

Villagers say that the children got trapped in the sand pits allegedly dug by the sand mafia of the area.

Those who drowned were identified as four-year-old Komal Sadaphule, six-year-old Aditya Sadaphule, six-year-old Kalinda Dabhade, and eight-year-old Rani Dabhade.

The injured girl, six-year-old Usha Dabhade is critical, police said.

Beed is some 450 km from Mumbai.