As the evening approached, Rambabu Sah and Shyambabu Sah of Sarabe village in ward 2 of Kamala Municipality in Dhanusha started getting anxious. For the whole of Tuesday, they had been desperately searching for their young sons—seven-year-old Ritik and five-year-old Ritish—who had gone out to play earlier in the day but had not returned home.

Their worst fears were confirmed when both boys were found drowned in a pit near an under-construction road just a few meters from their home. The pit, dug during the construction of an agricultural road by Jaya Baba Construction Company, had filled with rainwater over the past few days. The boys likely wandered into the area while playing and slipped into the water unnoticed.

Such tragedies are all too common in all eight districts of Madhesh province, especially during the monsoon when rain-filled pits, ponds and ditches, left behind after road construction or gravel extraction turn into death traps. According to the Madhes Provincial Police Office in Janakpur, 39 people drowned in Dhanusha district alone in the current fiscal year of 2024-25 and 23 of them were children.

The growing incidents of drowning are quite alarming. In the past three years, a total of 542 people have drowned across the province, including 321 (or around 59 percent) children. The number of these preventable deaths continue to rise each year.

On April 19, a similar tragedy unfolded in Jingdawa village in ward 5 of Sarlahi’s Parsa Rural Municipality. A five-year-old boy named Shubhajit Majhi drowned in a pit left behind by a brick kiln after soil extraction. His body was recovered three days later. Shubhajit’s father Shivam Majhi had migrated from Bihar’s Gaya district in India for work. Devastated by the loss, he has since returned home.

Another heart-wrenching incident took place on July 1 last year in ward 3 of Naraha Rural Municipality in Siraha. Two young boys, seven-year-old Rahul Mandal and eight-year-old Ashish Mandal, went missing. Two days later, their bodies were discovered in a rain-filled pit created after gravel had been excavated. The boys’ uncle Sushil Mandal said the pit was dangerously deep and unmarked. Monsoon rains turned it into a hidden hazard.

According to the police, in just 10 months of the current fiscal year 2024-25, a total of 202 people drowned in the eight districts of Madhesh: an average of 11 deaths per month. The vast majority of the victims were children.

As per the data available at Madhesh Province Police Office in Janakpur, 39 people including 23 children drowned in Dhanusha while 37 including 15 children drowned in Sarlahi. Likewise, 30 people with 18 children died by drowning in Rautahat, 29 including 15 children in Saptari, 27 people including 21 children in Mahottari, 18 people including nine children in Parsa, 12 people including nine children in Siraha and 10 people with six children drowned in Bara in the current fiscal year.

The danger peaks during the monsoon when construction and road expansion projects coincide, and rain quickly fills open pits. Assistant Chief District Officer of Rautahat Kiran Nidhi Tiwari said, “Many children have drowned in these pits. The issue is that after a child dies, the pit gets filled. But nothing changes, and the cycle continues every year,” he said.

Despite the alarming figures, there appears to be little accountability. Although local, provincial and federal governments have contingency plans for floods, landslides, fires, and cold waves, there is no priority or compensation for deaths caused by drowning in pits, ponds, or ditches—especially those left unguarded by contractors.

The number of deaths from drowning has steadily increased each year. In the fiscal year 2022-23, a total of 155 drowning-related deaths were reported in the province. Among them, 81 were children, and Dhanusha topped the list with 41 deaths. In the last fiscal year 2023-24, a total of 185 people drowned in Madhesh. Among them, according to the provincial police office, 124 were children, 47 were adult men and 14 adult women. Saptari topped the list of districts on the count of children’s death by drowning.

Inspector Bikram Sah of the Madhesh Provincial Police Office informs that while some deaths involve river or floodwaters, the majority involve children falling into stagnant rain-filled pits and open or poorly-secured water bodies. “Drowning has become a major threat to children in Madhesh,” he said.

Despite several discussions and government meetings, no concrete actions have been taken. Bishnu Kunwar, a local civil society leader from Janakpur, believes that the deaths are the result of both parental negligence and the irresponsibility of contractors. “But there has been virtually no work done to prevent these incidents,” he said.

A meeting of the provincial child protection committee was recently held to discuss preventive measures to control drowning incidents. The meeting, led by the Ministry of Sports and Social Welfare, concluded that drowning-related child deaths pose a serious challenge to child safety and that a dedicated policy is necessary. Yet, the number of deaths continues to rise.

Madhesh’s Minister for Sports and Social Welfare Pramod Jaiswal expressed concern over the data. “The numbers are shocking. We keep hearing of such deaths, but no action follows. The provincial government must consult with police and local bodies to develop a coordinated response,” he said.