India: 37 children drown during Hindu festival in Bihar

At least 46 people - including 37 children and seven women - drowned while celebrating a Hindu religious festival in eastern India, local officials said.

The fatalities were confirmed across 15 districts in the past 24 hours.

A disaster management official said the victims died while ritually bathing in rivers and ponds swollen by recent flooding.

The three-day Jivitputrika festival celebrates children's wellbeing every year and is also marked with mothers fasting for them.