46 people drown during a Hindu festival in India Achi-News

• 37 of 46 who drowned while celebrating are children.
• Drowning occurred from Tuesday across 15 areas.
• The state government announces compensation to victims’ families.

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PATNA: At least 46 people, including 37 children, have drowned while celebrating a Hindu festival in eastern India, a local government official told AFP on Thursday.

The victims drowned in separate incidents in Bihar state while taking ritual baths in rivers and ponds swollen by recent floods, an official from the Bihar Disaster Management Department said. AFP.

“People ignored dangerous water levels in rivers as well as ponds while bathing to celebrate this festival,” said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Tuesday’s drownings occurred across 15 districts in the state of Bihar as rituals marked the “Jitiya Parv”, a Hindu festival, observed by mothers for the welfare of their children.

Authorities were working to recover three more bodies, the official said.

The state government has announced compensation to all the families of the victim, he said.

Deadly incidents are common at places of worship during major religious festivals in India, the biggest of which prompt millions of devotees to make pilgrimages to holy sites.

India is hit by heavy rains and flash floods every year during the monsoon season.

The monsoon is essential for agriculture and therefore for the livelihood of millions of farmers.

But it is also responsible for widespread destruction every year in the form of landslides and floods that kill hundreds of people across South Asia.

More than 200 people were killed in the southern Indian state of Kerala in July when heavy monsoon rains triggered landslides that buried tea plantations under tons of rock and soil.

Experts say climate change is increasing the number of extreme weather events around the world, with dam projects, deforestation and development in India exacerbating the human toll.