13-yr-old girl saves three kids, drowns while rescuing 4th

A 13-year-old girl, who saved three children from drowning in Rajasthan’s Dholpur district, died while trying to save the fourth, her seven-year-old cousin, officials said on Tuesday

A 13-year-old girl, who saved three children from drowning in Rajasthan’s Dholpur district, died while trying to save the fourth, her seven-year-old cousin, officials said on Tuesday.

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The incident happened on Monday afternoon, when the five children visited the banks of Parvati river Khubpura village to perform a ritual, Mania police station in-charge Ashok Kumar said.

Narrating the sequence of events, Khubpura village head Rajesh Sikarvar said the deceased, Anushka (one name), went to the river bank ahead of the villagers with the four children – Khushboo, 12, Pankaj, 10, and Govinda, 10 – to perform the ritual.

According to the villagers, they plant jaw seeds a month before the festival of Raksha Bandhan as part of a local ritual named Phulaiyan. The grown plants are then immersed in a waterbody a day after the festival.

“The younger children decided to bathe in the river after completing the ritual. But they were unable to anticipate the flow of the river, which had increased in the past few days because of heavy rainfall,” Sikarvar said.

The children ran into the river but were pulled in the heavy current. “Anuskha jumped to save them, and was able to pull three children to the river’s banks,” Sikarvar said, adding that by then Chavi was swept farther away.

“Anushka tried to pull Chavi out but was unable to bear the strength of current. Both of them drowned,” he said.

The rest of the villagers, who rushed to the spot after hearing the children shout for help, fished out the bodies of the two girls, he said.

The state government has announced an ex-gratia of ₹1 lakh to each to the victim’s family.

Everything happened within a few minutes, and therefore, it did not provide much chance for the villagers to save the two,” Kumar said.

“The girl showed immense presence of mind as she pulled the three children out of the river. Only a brave person would have risked her life to save them,” he said.

Anushka was cremated in the village on Tuesday, the village head said. He added that Chavi was cremated in her village some distance away.

“She was the eldest of three siblings. She saved three lives. I have decided to start a competition in her name,” he added.

According to Sikarwar, Anushka was a student of Class 7. Her father is a small farmer.