Three girls, all eight years old or younger, drowned when gusty winds tipped their boat into the Bohta river Saturday in Teghra village of Saran district, 135 kilometers (85 miles) north of the state capital Patna, a police official said.

The girls were travelling upriver to take part in a religious ritual. Nine relatives on the boat survived, police said.

On Friday, four women labourers died in the Ganges River when their boat hauling 15 people and a heap of maize capsized in a powerful current, an official said.

The bodies were fished out at Ramdiri village in Begusarai district, 125 kilometers (80 miles) east of Patna, and handed over to relatives.

Such incidents are common in Bihar, which experiences severe floods during the monsoon and where boats are often poorly maintained.

Around 90 people have been reported killed in boat accidents in Bihar since the monsoon began drenching the state in June. At least 113 people have died in flooding.

TERRA.WIRE