According to Area Police Office in Attariya, the girls drowned in the Manahara rivulet in course of swimming. Police identified the victims as Karishma Giri, 13 of Attariya-13, Ashmita Nath, 12, and her sister Anisha Nath, 8 of Shivanagar in Dhangadhi Municipality.  

One Eshu Deuba, who accompanied the victims for swimming, saw the three drowning in the rivulet and informed the local people. The locals had rushed to the incident site immediately to rescue the girls, but it was already too late to fish out the children alive, said police.

Ashmita and Anisha were the daughters of Ramesh Nath of Shivanagar in Dhangadhi while Karishma was the daughter of Gorakh Giri. The Nath siblings went to the house of Giri, a relative, during their holidays.

Inspector Kuldev Chand said that Anisha had drowned first while the two others died in their bid to rescue her. The incident took place at around 2pm. According the bereaved family members, the children often went to the stream during the summer season to beat the heat.