The five girls had gone to the drain to extract soil on Saturday, police said. (Representational)
Five girls drowned on Saturday while collecting soil from a drain in an area under Motigarpur Police Station here, police said.
While bodies of four girls were pulled out shortly after the incident, divers recovered the body of the fifth girl in the evening.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, expressing grief over the deaths, directed the District Magistrate and senior police officers to go to the spot and conduct relief work. According to the police, five girls, who had gone to the West Majui drain of Kaliganj Bazar on Saturday afternoon to extract soil, drowned in the deep water of the drain.
Villagers, who reached the spot after hearing the screams, had managed to pulled out four of them -- Ashiya (13), Asmeen (13), Nandini (13), and Anjaan (13), all residents of Pemapur Khajuri. All four were found dead.
Sultanpur DM Ravish Gupta had earlier confirmed the death of four girls.
The body of a nine-year-old Khushi, the fifth girl, was found later by divers. She was pronounced dead by doctors.
Police and administration officials including DM Ravish Gupta and Superintendent of Police reached the spot to oversee the rescue operations.
The Chief Minister's Office in a series of tweets in Hindi said: "UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives due to drowning in a drain in Sultanpur district.
"While praying for peace to departed souls, the Chief Minister has expressed condolences to the bereaved families. The Chief Minister has directed the officials for proper treatment of the injured by taking them to the hospital immediately and wished them speedy recovery."
"Along with this, the concerned District Magistrate and senior police officers have been directed to go to the spot and get the relief work done on a war footing."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)