Post News Network
Gop, July 10: Two boys drowned in Kadua River near Chengeula village here Sunday when a plastic boat they were riding in while bathing capsized. The locals, angry about a 108 ambulance not reaching the village to take the boys to hospital, blocked the Gop-Konark road for at least four hours.
While Rajesh Mallick (11) was a native of Chengeula, Badal Kumar Mallick (15) hailed from Gajapati Nagar in Puri and had come to his uncle’s house at Chengeula. The two boys drowned while taking a bath in the river at about 11 AM, said villagers.
The two boys reportedly found a plastic boat in the river while bathing and, having boarded it, went far from the riverbank. They fell into the water when the boat capsized. Although Badal tried to rescue Rajesh and managed to bring him to the boat, the boat capsized again and the duo was trapped under the boat, said villagers.
The two boys were drawn out of the water by the villagers, who contacted a 108 ambulance. With the ambulance workers saying that there was no ambulance available, the villagers rushed the boys to Gop health centre where the doctor declared them brought dead.
The incident triggered tension in the area as the family members of the dead boys and the fellow villagers blocked the Gop-Konark road near the health centre by keeping the bodies in the middle of the road. Traffic on the route was disrupted for about four hours due to the blockade. Tourists going to Puri and Konark faced considerable inconvenience duo to the blockade.
Later, Nimapara DSP Arun Kumar Jena, Gop inspector-in-charge Srinivas Mohanty and the additional tehsildar of Konark reached the spot. Assurance by the officials about compensation being paid to the bereaved families led to withdrawal of the blockade.
Police sent the two bodies for post-mortem and registered a case of unnatural death.
