6 women, including 5 teens, drown during Hartalika ritual

NAGPUR: A Hartalika ritual turned into tragedy at Sawangi village, around 22km from the city, when five teenage girls and another 50-year-old woman drowned in a weir on Mendhar river on Sunday. The victims, engaged in Gauri Pujan, walked into the weir, unaware that a civil contractor had deepened it some time ago. The level of water was between five-and-a-half and six feet.A nine-member committee has been formed to probe the matter.
The deceased, all residents from Indira Nagar of Sawangi, have been identified as Jhanvi Choudhari alias Janu (13), Poonam Dadmal (15), Pooja Dadmal (15), Pranita Chamlata (17), Priya Raut (15) and Manda Nagose (50). The teenaged victims were students. Poonam's younger sister Prateeksha, aged around 10 years, was the sole survivor who alerted the villagers. She is learnt to be under shock as has been unable to speak much. The victims mostly belonged to economically weaker sections whose livelihood revolved around working as daily wage labourers.
The villagers are now left speculating as to how the incident took place. Most feel that one among the group may have slipped in deeper while rest rushed in one after another in a bid to rescue those drowning. Another speculation is that the girls may have got stuck in the muck at the base of the weir which led to their drowning.