Three minor girls lost their lives while crossing a river in Dhakuwakhona sub-division of Assam’s Lakhimpur district on Sunday.
The deceased girls have been identified as 12-year-old Lulumoni Taid, daughter of Tularam Taid and Renumai Taid; 10-year-old Sunita Paw, daughter of Tarani Paw and Padumani Paw and 9-year-old Hemamalini Paw (9), daughter of Manik Paw and Oilawati Paw.
“The girls drowned as the boat, in which they were trying to cross river Champora in Ayengiya village at Bebejia in Dhakuwakhona, capsized,” informed sources.
“The boat was hand-oared by the young girls as they do every day and they were moving towards the other side of the river to meet their parents working in the paddy field,” added sources.
Lulumoni was a student of Class VI while the two other girls were studying in Class IV.
Though the villagers, who were present on the river bank, rushed to rescue the drowned girls, none of them could be brought to the bank alive.
The incident once again reveals the daily ordeal that villagers have to endure while travelling in interior areas in rural Lakhimpur where lack of bridges over rivers hampers road communication.