Six deaths, including that of a seven-month-old, within the past 24 hours in Saptari are blamed on cold weather. With the latest incidents, the toll from the cold wave has reached 15 in a week in the district. 

Local journalist Raj Kumar Pasman said 7-month-old Ganesh, son of Lalit Chaudhary of Kanchanrup Municipality-4, died while being taken to Biratnagar for treatment for cold related ailments. A local clinic had diagnosed cold-induced pneumonia in the baby and referred the case to a hospital in Biratnagar.

Bechan Seikh, 55, of Kanchanrup Municipality-2 and Narayan Mukhiya of Tilathi Koiladi Rural Municipality-4 died from hypothermia.

Seikh died while watering his fields in the morning, according to Inspector Dilli Chauhan of the Kanchanpur Area Police Office. Mukhiya, who comes from a poverty-stricken family, was found dead in his thatched hut, said DSP Dhruva Kumar Shrestha of the District Police Office. Musaharu Chaudhary of Khadag Municipality-8 also died in the cold spell.

According to the Kalyanpur Area Police Office, Prem Bahadur Majhi, 60, of Khoriya in Khadag Municipality-7, died due to severe cold. In Kanchanrup Municipality-7, 60-year-old Utim Marik Dom succumbed to the cold. Dom had collapsed near his house four days ago as a result of hypothermia. He died in course of treatment in Biratnagar, said his son Sikandar Marik Dom.

Meanwhile, 72-year-old Bage Chepang of Musedhap in Manahari Rural Municipality, Makwanpur, died reportedly from severe cold on Friday.

According to Somraj Thing, a local, Chepang had asthma. He had been living under a tarpaulin-covered hut in a forest for six months. Chepang’s house was swept away by a landslide last monsoon.