23 killed, one missing in heavy rain in Bihar

Patna, Jul 15 (UNI) Altogether 23 people, including several women and children, were killed, more than five injured and one was missing in separate accidents in Bihar today following heavy rains since yesterday.

Police said all the 20 passengers--nine women, five children and six men--drowned when the jeep they were travelling in fell into a rainfed canal near Magopur village under Alamaganj police station near here this morning.

The mishap occurred when the driver failed to locate the road as it went under chest-deep water following a continuous downpour since last night and skidded into the canal.

Local people and the district administration soon swung into action but could not save anybody because of the strong current in the water.

Later the bodies of all the victims, except a child, could be fished out and sent for post-mortem at the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital.

The victims were members of a marriage party from Magopur village.

In another incident two people were killed and three injured, one of them critically, when a portion of their house suddenly collapsed during the heavy rains at Sultanpur village near Fatua, about 25 km from here,in Patna district today.

Local people helped rescue the injured from under the rubble and sent them to a nearby hospital.

Meanwhile, another person died in the city's Rajendra Nagar area when he fell into a drain, police said.

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