Two minor siblings drown in pond in Chhattisgarh

Two minor sisters, Muskan (9) and Shruti Ratre (8), drowned while playing in a pond in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir-Champa district, with their bodies later being declared dead by doctors.

Two minor sisters drowned while playing in a pond in a village in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir-Champa district, police said on Friday.

The incident occurred in Arjuni village in the Akaltara area on Thursday when the children ventured into the pond with their grandmother, an official said.

While their grandmother was washing clothes on the bank, the girls, Muskan (9) and Shruti Ratre (8), gradually moved towards the deeper ends of the pond while playing and drowned, he said.

Unable to spot the children, the grandmother raised an alarm, following which villagers launched a search and pulled the girls out, the official said.

The children were rushed to a community health centre in Akaltara, where doctors declared them dead, he said.

The police were informed, and the bodies were handed over to relatives after post-mortem, the official said.