Mahanga: A woman risked her life to save her minor son from drowning after the car she was travelling in with her husband skidded off the road and fell into the Pattamundai canal here in Cuttack district Sunday.
However, no casualty was reported while Bijay Panda (35), his wife Debasmita (23) and their son Biswaprakash (3) had a close shave.
Bijay was returning home in a car from Balipadia under Barchana block in Jajpur district when the vehicle lost balance due to spalls strewn on the road and fell straight into the roadside canal where the water level was over 15-ft high.
Bijay applied his presence of mind and jumped out of the car by breaking its front windshield. He searched for his wife and son inside the sinking car and raised an alarm after falling to trace them.
He, however, did not lose hope and was frantically searching for them when his wife rose from the water and handed over their son to him before being swept away. Bijay with the help of some local youths rescued Debasmita when she was being swept away.
Later, Bijay with the help of the villagers admitted his wife and son to the Kuanpal health centre where their condition improved after treatment. Fire personnel from Kuanpal reached the spot and recovered the car with the help of the villagers.
Three persons including a newly-wed woman, her brother and the groom’s brother-in-law drowned in this canal when a car carrying them skidded off the road and fell into the water five years back. Locals demanded black topping of the canal road.
