Lakhimpur Kheri (UP): Two minor girls died after a heap of loose soil caved in on the banks of Sharda river at Dhakiya under Bhira Kotwali police limits in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh, the police said on Monday.
The girls have been identified as 12-year-old Poonam Devi and 13-year-old Shivani. Some villagers rescued three other girls Nikki, Nayra and Nainsi who were also buried under the sand.
According to Bhira Kotwali in-charge Vimal Kumar Gautam, the bodies were handed over to the family of the girls. Villagers said that the five girls had gone to the banks of the Sharda river, which flows about 100 meters away from their residences, to collect soil for repairing their huts. As they began to dig the land, the heap of soil just above the big hovel which they made to collect soil caved in and all the five girls were buried.
On hearing their yells, villagers rushed to the spot and managed to pull them out of the soil. The 12-year-old Poonam died on the spot and four others were rushed to a primary health facility in Bijua area, where Shivani died.
