Five Children Drown in Separate Incidents in Odisha
The deaths of the two young friends have cast a pall of gloom over Nachhipur village, with grieving residents gathering in large numbers to mourn the loss
Bhubaneswar: Five children, including three students of PM Shri Navodaya Vidyalaya in Koraput district, drowned while bathing in separate water bodies in Odisha on Saturday, triggering grief in the affected communities.
In the first incident, three Class 10 students of PM Shri Navodaya Vidyalaya drowned in the Kolab reservoir in Koraput district. The students had recently completed their Class 10 board examinations.
According to local sources, the boys had gone to the reservoir when the tragedy occurred. The exact circumstances leading to the drowning remain unclear. Local residents and authorities were alerted soon after the incident, and efforts were launched to retrieve the bodies from the water.
The incident has shocked the local community as well as the school fraternity, with many expressing grief over the untimely deaths of the students. Police had not issued an official statement on the incident at the time of filing this report.
In a separate incident in Mayurbhanj district, two minor girls drowned in a village pond at Nachhipur village under Kaptipada police station limits.
The deceased were identified as seven-year-old Shubhasandhya Nayak and eight-year-old Rajalakshmi Sankhual, both students of Dandaghat Dehuri Sahi School.
According to family members, the two girls had returned home from school and later went to a nearby pond to bathe despite being advised by their families to use a tube well instead.
After some time, relatives noticed the girls struggling in the water and rushed to rescue them. They were pulled out of the pond and immediately taken to Kaptipada hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival.
The deaths of the two young friends have cast a pall of gloom over Nachhipur village, with grieving residents gathering in large numbers to mourn the loss.
Rajalakshmi’s father, Rabindra Sankhual, said he had warned his daughter not to go to the pond.
“My daughter told me she would go to bathe in the pond. I asked her not to and told her to use the tube well instead,” he said.
“After some time, I went looking for her but couldn’t find her. Later, some locals informed us that the children had drowned in the pond,” he added.
A relative of Shubhasandhya, Ashok Nayak, said he rushed to the pond upon hearing the news and jumped into the water to search for the girls.
“I went straight to the pond and dived in without even changing my clothes. I found them in the middle of the water,” he said.