At least 10 children — six in Rohtas district and four in Katihar district — of Bihar drowned on Sunday. All of them had gone to take a bath. One child was still missing.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief and ordered ₹ 4 lakh ex-gratia to the next of kin of each of the deceased.

Six children drowned in the Sone river in Rohtas district. The incident occurred near Tumba village under Rohtas police station, when the family of one Tumba Gond went to take a dip in the river.

The deceased in Rohtas included three boys and three girls, while one child was still missing at the time of filing the report. All of them were in the age group of 8 to 13 years.

“Seven children had ventured into the Sone river to take a bath. One of them went towards the deeper part of the river and started drowning. The other kids rushed to save him and they too drowned. We have recovered six bodies, while the divers are looking for the remaining one,” Rohtas station house officer (SHO) Nikunj Bhushan Prasad told reporters.

The dead bodies were sent to the government hospital at Sasaram for post-mortem.

The incident in the Katihar district occurred near the Sameli railway halt under the Kursela police station area. A group of children had gone to play and bathe in the flood and rainwater that had accumulated near the railway tracks. They could not gauge the depth of water and drowned.

Kursela SHO Guddu Kumar said the dead bodies of four children have been recovered and sent for autopsy.