DEOGARH: A 35-year-old woman and her two minor sons drowned after a country boat capsized in Rengali reservoir near Taleisara village within Kundheigola police limits in Deogarh district on Wednesday night.
Police identified the deceased as Jyotsa Penthei of Pudadihi village and her sons Ayush (6) and Riyansh (4). The tragedy took place when Jyotsa and her husband Bulu Penthei along with their kids were out fishing in the reservoir.
Sources said as per their daily practice, the Penthei family ventured into the reservoir in a small wooden boat and began laying nets. However, a sudden gust of wind caused the boat to lose balance. Water began to fill the boat and it eventually overturned.
Bulu desperately tried to rescue his wife and children but all his efforts went in vain. After a long search, Bulu recovered the lifeless bodies of both his sons but Jyotsa was untraceable.
On being informed about the mishap, fire services personnel from Reamal reached the reservoir and launched a search operation with the help of local villagers. Jyotsa’s body tangled in a fishing net was recovered at around 10 am on Thursday.
The atmosphere was filled with grief and sorrow as hundreds of villagers gathered on the banks of reservoir. Deogarh sub-collector Parikshita Sahu and Reamal tehsildar reached the spot to conduct preliminary inquiry. Kundheigola police registered a case of unnatural death and sent the bodies for postmortem.
Deogarh MLA Romanch Ranjan Biswal also visited the spot and held discussion with the district officials on provision of financial assistance to the bereaved family.
Later, the Deogarh administration assured of providing Rs 4 lakh assistance to the next of kin of the deceased from the state disaster response fund (SDRF). The district Red Cross Society also extended an initial aid of Rs 15,000 and took care of the funeral arrangements.
District officials confirmed that additional government assistance including compensation under Harischandra Yojana and other schemes will be provided to the Penthei family after submission of the autopsy reports.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed grief over the incident and conveyed their condolences to the bereaved family.