Search on after two children swept away while trying to retrieve cricket ball in Cuttack
Two minor boys went missing while bathing in the Kathajodi River near Khannagar in Cuttack on Sunday morning, sparking panic among locals as rescue teams searched late into the evening.
Preliminary reports said the boys, residents of Bhagatpur, had gone to the river after attending a kirtan (devotional gathering). They later joined friends playing cricket nearby. When the ball accidentally rolled into the river, two of them entered the water to retrieve it but got stuck in the sand and were swept away.
Alerted by residents, police and Fire Services rushed to the spot. Two rescue teams, equipped with boats and scuba divers, launched an intensive search operation.
Fire Department officials said divers were combing the stretch of the river where the boys were last seen, while police managed the crowd and coordinated with the families.
A local resident said, “The boys went to bathe after the kirtan. When the ball fell into the river, one tried to fetch it and shouted for help. The other jumped in to rescue him, but both disappeared in the current.”
As of late evening, the search was still underway.
