Hardoi (UP), February 21 A 12-year-old girl and her sister, who had drowned in a pond while collecting water chestnuts here, were found dead on Saturday, about 24 hours after the incident, police said.
The incident occurred on Friday afternoon in Rampur Daheliya village in the Pihani area when three girls entered a pond to collect singhara (water chestnut) and started drowning.
One of the girls was rescued by villagers, while the other two went missing.
According to police, the bodies of Priyanka (12) and Arushi (13) were recovered by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) after an intensive search operation.
They said Janhvi (14) was safely pulled out by locals shortly after the incident.
Additional Superintendent of Police (West) Martand Prakash Singh said SDRF and flood relief teams were deployed, and divers had been searching the pond since Saturday morning.
"The bodies of both missing girls have been recovered. They have been sent for post-mortem, and further legal proceedings are underway," he said.