CUTTACK:Four students of Ravenshaw University drowned in the Mahanadi river at Jobra Barrage here on Wednesday afternoon.
The students had come to the ‘ghat’ at the barrage to take bath when the tragedy struck. Five students entered the water but were reportedly sucked into the deep by a strong current. While one was fortunately rescued, others drowned.
The students were identified as Pritiranjan Das and Pyarimohan Pradhan of second-year Information Technology Management (ITM) and Debaprasad Rath and Shanawaz Khan of second-year Information Science Technology (IST). Their classmate Amit Meher, however, was rescued by locals who rushed to the spot on hearing screams of the drowning students.
Divers from the fire services and ODRAF were deployed to fish the bodies out of water. All the bodies were recovered by evening.
“About 10 fire services divers and six from ODRAF were engaged in the operation which was completed by 6 pm,” fire services officer Chandramani Routray said.
Cuttack Collector Nirmal Mishra, DCP Sanjeev Arora and Ravenshaw University Vice-Chancellor Prakash Sarangi were present at the spot during the rescue operation.