Chhendipada/Dhenkanal/Anandapur: Ganesh puja and Nuakhai festival began on a sad note after five persons were reported to have drowned in different parts of the state Friday.
A pall of gloom descended at Lembutaila under Jarapada police limits in Angul district after two sisters drowned while taking bath in a pond Friday morning.
The siblings are identified as Jhunubala Sahoo (14) and Runubala Sahoo (12), daughters of Pitambar Sahoo.
On being informed, Jarpada IIC Bindu Basini Bishwal and a team reached the village and launched a probe. The bodies were seized and sent to Angul district headquarters hospital (DHH) for autopsy.
Sources said, the two siblings had gone to a pond to take bath when the tragedy struck. They accidentally slipped into the pond and drowned.
Jhunubala and Runubala were studying in Class VIII and Class VI respectively at Antulia Upper Primary School.
Similarly, a Class X student drowned during Ganesh idol immersion at Arnapal panchayat in Bhadrak district.
Rajendra Sahoo of Susua village, had gone to immerse the Ganesh idol in Nalia river after celebrations in his tuition class.
Amidst much fanfare, the entire group went to Bhakti Brahmapur Ghat for immersion. During the process, Sahoo ventured into the middle of the river and subsequently drowned.
On the other hand, a daily-wage labourer, Saranga Nayak, drowned in a pond at Khajuria of Baladiabandh panchayat under Dhenkanal Sadar police limits.
Saranga had gone to a nearby village to take bath in a pond on his way back home.
In another incident, an elderly woman drowned while taking bath in Baitarani river in Padmapur village under Anandapur block in Keonjhar district Friday.
The deceased has been identified as Dolly Sahu. Locals rescued Dolly and rushed her to Anandapur sub-divisional hospital where she died while undergoing treatment.
PNN
