Bhubaneswar: Around 1,292 persons drowned in various parts of the state during 2015-16 to 2017-18 financial years, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi said here Monday.
While 246 people died in 2015-16, 428 died in 2016-17 and 618 in the last financial year. Total number of deaths reported due to different disasters during the last three years, 2015-16 to 2017-18, was 4,689. Out of this, number of deaths due to drowning, being second highest after snakebite, accounts for about 28 per cent of total number of disaster deaths, Sethi added.
Interestingly, no drowning death was reported in Boudh district while the death toll was more than 129 in Balasore, 118 in Bhadrak and 103 in Jajpur. The other districts which reported more than 50 deaths are- Keonjhar (98), Mayurbhanj (97), Kendrapara (89), Sambalpur (82), Ganjam (71), Koraput (65) and Nabarangpur (54).
If we analyse the data on monthly basis, most of the drowning cases have occurred from July to November. Out of total 1,292 drowning deaths occurred in 3 years, 783 deaths (about 61 per cent) have occurred during these five months only, sources said. Highest deaths were reported in the September (197) followed by August (192), October (150), November (127) and July (117). This shows that increase in the deaths due to drowning is interlinked with the monsoon syndrome, the source said.
Notably, the state government has declared drowning (other than during floods) as a ‘state specific disaster’ with effect from April 1, 2015. From then onwards, Collectors have been reporting cases of death due to drowning to the SRC.
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