Cuttack: Four minor students went missing Thursday afternoon while bathing in Mahanadi River near Bhadimula Ghat in Cuttack. However, a team of fire services personnel fished out the body of one of the students late at night following a frantic search.
A source said that the deceased was identified as Khetrabasi Behera. Khetrabasi and the three other students were batch mates. All of them were studying in Class VIII and were aged around 14 years. They belonged to Potapokhari in Nayabazar locality of the city.
According to the source, Khetrabasi and the three friends returned from the school at around 1.30pm to their respective homes. Later, they had their foods and then all of them went out together by riding bicycles to the Bhadimula Ghat for bathing in the river.
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An underwater current dragged the four students while bathing and they slipped into deep water and drowned. As the minors did not return home for several hours, their family members searched for them at all possible locations.
Meanwhile, the worried families spotted four bicycles near Bhadimula Ghat in the evening and informed local police about the incident.
Following hours of search, the fire services team recovered the body of Khetrabasi. He was immediately admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) in the city where doctors at the government-run health facility declared him ‘brought dead’.
The fire services team has resumed search operations Friday morning to find out the three others, which is still underway.
PNN