Rayagada: A student was killed while five others were seriously injured after they were attacked by a swarm of bees in Rayagada district Wednesday evening.
The deceased was identified as Debdas Toika, a Class II student of the school. According to sources, 10 students of Karubai Ashram School in Rayagada had gone to a nearby forest to collect mango leaves from a nearby forest for decoration for Ganesh Puja pandal.
While collecting fresh leaves inside the forest, the students were suddenly attacked by a swarm of bees. They ran helter-skelter to avoid the stings. Four among them managed to reach the hostel but found neither the headmaster nor any other teacher in the school.
Meanwhile, locals came to know about the incident. They rushed to the forest and rescued six students lying unconscious. The children were brought to the school. On being alerted by school’s peon Gangadhar Mandangi, headmaster Jagannath Mandangi reached the school. However, he didn’t make any arrangements to shift the injured students to the hospital.
Failing to bear the extreme pain, Devdas died at about 1 pm. The school authorities admitted the injured students – Shrinu Mandangi (Class I), Rohit Toika (Class II), Bikash Mandangi (Class I), Natin Mandangi (Class II) and Ashis Puala (Class III) – to the district headquarters hospital late in the night. The condition of two of them is stated to be critical.
The families of the injured students said none of the hostel staff accompanied the children to the forest nor did they shift the critically injured students to the hospital.
After visiting the district headquarters hospital Thursday, Rayagada Collector Guha Poonam Tapas Kumar said a probe has been ordered into the incident.
“This is an unfortunate incident. Students are not allowed to leave their hostels without prior permission of the hostel superintendent. We will find out under what circumstances they were allowed to leave the hostel,” she added.
Meanwhile, the family of the deceased student was given Rs 10,000 from the District Red Cross Fund, Rs 5,000 from the block education office and Rs 2,000 under the Harishchandra Yojana.
PNN
