BARIPADA: A game of cricket turned fatal for three boys at Saraskana within Jharpokharia police limits on Saturday.
Sources said the victims, Madan Mohan Sahu (13), son of Ganeswar Sahu of Mundhakata village, Sriyanshu Sahu (14), son of Santosh Sahu of Nuagaon village and Saisundar Sahu (14), son of Sumanta Sahu of Sarashkana village within Jharpokharia police limits were playing cricket on a ground near Subarnarekha canal.
During the game, one of them hit the ball towards the canal. As the boys rushed to collect the ball, they found it floating in the canal, a few metres away from the embankment. When they tried to recover the ball, they slipped and drowned in the canal.
As the boys did not return home, their families searched the area and found a bat and their slippers near the canal. They intimated the fire services personnel from Jharpokharia who reached the spot and rescued the boys from the water body. The boys were rushed to Sirsha primary health centre where doctors declared them brought dead.
Police rushed to the PHC, seized the bodies and sent them to PRM medical college and Hospital for postmortem. An unidentified death case has been registered and probe is underway.