The death toll from cold wave in Saptari district has climbed to 15 after six more people, including a seven month old infant, died within the last 24 hours.

Seven-month-old Ganesh Chaudhary, son of Lalit Chaudhary of Kanchanrup Municipality-4 died while being taken to Biratnagar for treatment after he was taken ill owing to extreme cold. The local clinic here had diagnosed Ganesh of suffering from pneumonia and had referred him to Biratnagar for treatment.

Likewise, Bechan Seikh, 55, of Kanchanrup municipality-2, Narayan Mukhiya of Tilathi Koiladi Rural Municipality-4 died after suffering from hypothermia.

Seikh suffered from hypothermia and died while watering his fields in the morning, informed Kanchapur Area Police Office Inspector Dilli Chauhan.

While Mukhiya, who comes from a poverty-stricken family, was found dead in his thatched hut, informed District Police Office DSP Dhruva Kumar Shrestha.

Similarly, the police also informed that Musaharu Chaudhary of Khadag Municipality-8 and Prem Bahadur Majhi, 60, of Khoriya in Khadag Municipality-7 also died due to severe cold in the area.

In Kanchanrup Municipality-7, 60-year-old Uttam Marik Dom also died due to cold. Dom had fallen unconscious after suffering from hypothermia near his house four days ago and breathed his last while receiving medical treatment at Biratnagar, informed his son Sikandar Marik Dom.

Meanwhile, Pabson-affiliated schools in the district have been shutdown following the extreme cold weather, informed Pabson’s Saptari-chapter Chairman Pancha Dev Yadav.