BHUBANESWAR: A 20-year-old youth drowned while bathing in Kuakhai river within Mancheswar police limits here on Saturday.
The deceased, Ankan Tripathy, a native of West Bengal’s Kharagpur, was a biotechnology student at a private university here.
As per police, the incident occurred at around 4.40 pm. Ankan and four other students went to the river to take bath. Two of them including Ankan slipped in the deep waters. On hearing their screams, locals managed to rescue one of them but Ankan was nowhere to be found.
Later, 12 fire personnel equipped with lifebuoys traced Ankan. He was rushed to a hospital in a critical condition where he was declared brought dead.
“A case of unnatural death will be registered and investigation launched into the matter,” said Mancheswar police. Meanwhile, sources attributed the youth’s death to the rise in Kuakhai water level due to heavy rains in the last few days.