Patna, Oct 23 (IANS): Five persons, including four minor girls, were drowned and six others went missing in separate accidents in rivers in Bihar's Aurangabad and Patna districts on Sunday, police said.

In Aurangabad, four minors girls went for a bath at Kushmara Ghat in Hamid Nagar village under Uphara police station. However, they did not realise the depth of the river and started drowning. Shankar Thakur of the same village jumped into the river to rescue them but also disappeared.

The deceased were identified as Manisha Kumari, 16, Kajal Kumari, 15, Nidhi Kumari, 14 and Choti Kumari, 12.

"When we heard of the incident, a rescue operation was launched and recovered the dead bodies of two victims. The operation is currently on," said Manoj Kumar Tiwari, SHO of Uphara police station.

In another incident, a motor boat carrying 21 persons capsized in the Ganga river in Patna's Digha area on Sunday morning, after colliding with a pillar of the JP Setu.

The SDRF team, present at Digha Ghat, immediately launched the rescue operation with the help of local divers and managed to save 15 persons after throwing life jackets and tubes. However, six persons are still missing.