Four children, including three of a family, drowned in a rain-filled pit dug during road expansion at Garuda Municipality-4 in the district, on Saturday.

Police identified the deceased as Sangita Sah (12), Sunita Sah (9), Sushmita Sah (9) and Sunaina Sah (9). According to Inspector Keshav Regmi of the Area Police Office, Garuda, Sangita and Sunita were the daughters of Ram Ekwal Sah while Sushmita was the daughter of his nephew Prem Narayan Sah. Another victim Sunaina was also their relative.

The girls had gone out to cut grass in the morning. Family members began their search when they did not return home until late afternoon. Their bodies were found in the pit at around 3pm, said police.

Eight-year-old Sanoj Kumar Sah was also with the victims when the incident took place. According to him, all the five of them were bathing in the pit to beat the scorching heat. The boy said that Sushmita drowned first while the others sank in their attempts to rescue her. The boy, he said, was also swimming in the shallow part of the pit.

According to locals, the pit was about eight-feet deep. The pit was dug to build a feeder road on the Chandranigahpur-Gaur section. According to the district police office, 11 children have drowned in rain-filled pits in the district in the past two months.