Two cousins, aged 8, drown in Pandu river in Auraiya

Kanpur: Two eight-year-old cousins drowned in the Pandu river near Purwa Bhawan village under the Bela police station area in Auraiya on Sunday. The children, Vishnu and Ansh, had accompanied family members to graze goats along the riverbank and entered the river for a bath when the tragedy occurred.According to family members, Vishnu was the son of Dhirendra, a resident of Purwa Bhawan village, while Ansh was the son of Dhirendra’s sister, Sarita, a resident of Purwa Harju village in the Sahar police station area. Ansh had come to his maternal grandparents’ house for a visit.On Sunday morning, Dhirendra’s brother Dharmendra left home to graze animals along the riverbank, accompanied by the two boys. While tending the livestock, he lost sight of the children and initially assumed they had returned home.

When he later called family members and learned that neither child had reached home, he feared they had fallen into the river.Dharmendra and other family members immediately began searching and eventually pulled both boys out of the river in an unconscious condition. They were rushed to a private hospital and later referred to the medical college at Tirwa in Kannauj due to their critical condition. Doctors there declared both children dead.

The deaths triggered scenes of grief in the villages. Vishnu’s body was taken to Purwa Bhawan, while Ansh’s body was taken to his native village, Purwa Harju.Circle officer Puneet Mishra said the bodies had been sent for postmortem examination after the bereaved families were consoled. He added that a report had been prepared by the tehsil administration and forwarded to higher authorities for financial assistance to the affected families.