Post News Network
Purusottampur: Merriment turned into tragedy for three students who drowned in the Rushikulya river while bathing near the Taratarini hill shrine in Ganjam district Wednesday.
The deceased, who were identified as Soumya Sampad Moharana, Sai Saswat Behera and Pankaj Sahu of Class VIII, Sunshine Mission School, Kacheri Road in Bhadrak, slipped into the gorge and drowned.
Fire personnel, who were informed of the incident by people of the area, launched a search operation and recovered the bodies, according to a police official. Police sent the bodies for post mortem and registered a case in this connection.
The deceased had gone to the place under this police limits for a picnic as part of a group comprising 50 present and former students, two teachers and guardians.
The incident triggered tension among people of the area as the teachers who had brought the students here went into hiding after learning about the deaths.
SP Narsingh Bhol said home guards will be deployed to prevent people from bathing at the ghat where there is a risk of drowning.
Several people have drowned in the river, according to sources. The people of the area blamed the administration for the mishap, alleging that not enough measures are being taken to check the rising incidents of drowning.
