# Three tribal schoolgirls die in Gadchiroli snakebite 2026-08-16T01:41:19+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Three girls aged 8 to 14 died and three were injured in a snakebite at a tribal residential school in Japtalai village, Dhanora taluka, Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra on the night of August 9-10, The Hindu reports. The common krait entered the dormitory where 112 girls slept on mattresses on the floor. One girl was airlifted to Nagpur and is recovering; another remains on ventilator support in Gadchiroli but is out of danger; a third is on the way to recovery. The school, run by former Congress MP Marotrao Kowase, had no mosquito nets at the time, though they have since been fitted, the cook told The Hindu. The woman supervisor allegedly went on leave without approval and is absconding after an FIR for negligence. FIRs have been registered against five people. The state government said it will cancel the school's licence and audit all 513 private aided residential tribal schools in the state, Tribal Affairs Minister Ashok Uike said. Residents and parents question the lack of medical infrastructure in one of Maharashtra's most remote districts. Gadchiroli has over 75% forest cover; 99 people have died of snakebite there in the last five years, The Hindu reports. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is the guardian minister of the district. ## Coverage - thehindu.com This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Ashok Uike, Devendra Fadnavis, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, Marotrao Kowase Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/three-tribal-schoolgirls-die-in-gadchiroli-snakebite/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/three-tribal-schoolgirls-die-in-gadchiroli-snakebite/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/