A 13-year-old boy, Abhishek Panthi, drowned in the Danab River in Butwal on Sunday, July 14th. Panthi, a resident of Butwal and a student at Ex Army Boarding School, was reportedly bathing in the river with another child when the incident occurred.
The other child returned home safely and raised the alarm. Locals believe Panthi drowned in a deep pit created by recent excavation of river materials. They expressed concern about the slow response of Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City’s disaster management teams, as no update on Panthi’s condition was available 16 hours after his disappearance.
As of Monday morning, July 15th, a search operation involving armed police and local residents was ongoing. The incident has sparked outrage among locals, who argue that such tragedies could be prevented by identifying deep pits and designating risk zones during river material extraction. They point to a similar drowning incident that occurred earlier in Tilottama due to an unattended deep pit.
This incident raises serious questions about the safety of riverside areas and the effectiveness of disaster management protocols in Butwal.
