JAGATSINGHPUR/ROURKELA/BERHAMPUR : Five minors were among nine persons who died by drowning across Odisha on Wednesday. While two of the mishaps were reported during Ganesh Puja idol immersions, one occurred in preparation for Karma Puja, a predominantly tribal festival.
While three of the dead were girls between six and nine years old, two were 14-year-old students of Class VIII, and four young men in their 20s.
Around 8.30 am, three girls drowned in Sankh river near Salangabahal village in Sundargarh district, police said. The children had gone to the river along with another kid, a boy, to take bath and collect sand for Karma Puja festival. IIC of Raiboga police station Dibya Oram identified the victims as Gitika Sahu (6), Sivika Sahu (7) and Shruti Kumari (9), all from a non-tribal community of Salangabahal village, about 42 km from Rourkela.
He said the boy raised alarm when the girls began drowning and villagers who heard him fished out the girls and rushed them to the nearby Birmitrapur community health centre but they were dead by then. A week prior to Karma Puja festival, a sand bed gets created to sow seven types of seeds for sprouting. Karma Puja is scheduled for September 22.
The death of the two teenagers was reported from Ganjam district. Police identified the deceased as Adarsh Sahu of Gajapati Marg area and Pritam Sameli of Gayatri Nagar under Hinjilicut municipality limits. The boys drowned in Ghodahad river while immersing a Ganesh idol. According to reports, Adarsh and Pritam were among a group of tuition students from Siddhikhandi area under Kotinada panchayat who had gone to immerse the idol. They slipped and fell into deep water. They were pulled out and rushed to Digapahandi hospital, where doctors declared them dead.
In Jagatsinghpur, four youths drowned during the immersion of a Lord Ganesh idol in Brudhha river near Gopalpur bridge under Erasama police limits in the afternoon. Police identified the deceased as Sushil Pallai (25), Manojit Swain (25), Swapnajit Barik (22), and Rashmi Ranjan Nayak (24). All four were from Oranal village under Krushnachandrapur panchayat.
Swapnajit Barik was a +3 student at Sarala Mahavidyalaya, Rahama; Rashmi Ranjan Nayak was a BTech student; and Sushil Pallai was a driver.
Sources said the four lost their footing while carrying the idol towards the middle of the river, and were swept away by the strong current. On being alerted, personnel from Erasama police station, fire services from Erasama, Kujang and Tirtol, and an ODRAF team launched a search and rescue operation.
The rescuers found the four youths one after another in an unconscious condition. They were shifted to the Erasama community health centre, where doctors declared them brought dead. The bodies were sent to Kujang hospital for postmortem examination.
Krushnachandrapur panchayat Samiti member Laxmipriya Mohapatra said the villagers had started the immersion around 2 pm.
Dukhishyam Barik, whose son Swapnajit drowned, said, “His death has left the entire family in deep sorrow and shock.”
Akshaya Nayak, father of deceased Rashmi Ranjan, said he had advised his son not to participate in the immersion. “However, he joined the others. He was swept away while trying to rescue another person.”