Unnao (Uttar Pradesh): Four children, aged seven to 10 years, drowned while taking bath in Ganga river in Jajmau area of Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district on Saturday. One kid managed to swim to the shore.

Two girls and three boys were bathing in the river when they suddenly slipped into deep water. They started drowning and shouted out for help. Seeing their plight, a five-year-old girl, Zainab Bano, who was the youngest in the group and was swimming close to the shore, somehow managed to get out of water and ran home to inform her parents.

On hearing about the incident the families ran to the spot and pulled out the four from water. They were taken to the nearby hospital, from where they were referred to Kashiram Chakeri in Kanpur. On reaching Kanpur hospital, all four were declared brought dead. Disturbed over the turn of events, the family members brought home the bodies without postmortem.

The incident has created a stir in the area. All the children were residents of Naikani in Gangaghat police station area of Unnao. The deceased have been identified as Raj Babu (7), Nazia Bano (10), Mohd. Nazir (10) and Riyaz (8).

On information from Kanpur Police, a team from Gangaghat police station reached the spot and spoke to the family members, who continued refusing to allow autopsy.

Circle Officer, Sonam said that five children had gone to bath in the Ganga river when four of them drowned. "The families of the deceased have not given permission for postmortem. We are trying to pacify them and convince them to allow postmortem," Sonam said.