Patna: Three minor boys drowned in Dyke Lagoon-3, a fly ash pond near the NTPC premises, in Kanti police station area of Muzaffarpur district on Friday.According to police, the boys from Kanti Kothia village had gone to bathe near the NTPC premises when they accidentally ventured into deep water and drowned. When they failed to return home, their family members and local residents launched a search. After prolonged efforts, the bodies of all three children were recovered from the pond with the help of locals.Kanti police reached the spot, took custody of the bodies and began an investigation. The deceased were identified as Ayush Kumar (11), Aarav Kumar (12) and Deenanath Kumar (12), all residents of Ward No. 16 of Kanti Kasba Tola.Muzaffarpur DSP (West-1) Suchitra Kumari said, “Three children died after drowning in Kanti Kothia village. On receiving the information, Kanti police immediately reached the spot and initiated an investigation.”Police completed the legal formalities and sent the bodies to SKMCH, Muzaffarpur, for the postmortem.Chandra Prakash, spokesperson for NTPC, Kanti, said, “Dyke Lagoon-3 is a prohibited area, and security guards are deployed there round the clock. Residents are not allowed to enter the area. However, some villagers secretly go there to bathe. The children who drowned on Friday had entered the lagoon from the village side, not through the NTPC premises. We periodically take action against trespassers and hand them over to the police for legal action.”
