Aska: Family members of Simanchal Parida, who went missing after an explosion at the IOCL filling station in Bhubaneswar, performed his last rites symbolically at Gahangu village under Aska block in Ganjam district Saturday.
A bundle of straw was symbolically put on the pyre as the family members assumed him to have been killed in the powerful explosion that shook Bhubaneswar Wednesday afternoon.
The family members are learnt to have taken such a decision as they could not get Parida’s whereabouts despite a frantic search. He was engaged at the filling station on that fateful day.
While the administration is yet to come up with its reaction regarding whereabouts of Parida, police continue to claim that he is missing after the mishap.
According to a source, after hearing about the incident, Parida’s sister Manjula along with a relative Manmaya visited the incident spot and enquired about him. They even searched for him at Capital Hospital and SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, but in vain. Their search rather ended with the filing station officials handing Parida’s wallet and ATM card over to them.
On that fateful day, another man from Ganjam district Sadananda Nayak and Harshavardhan Srivastava were also working with Parida. They both had sustained severe burn injuries and one day after their hospitalization, Sadananda passed away. Srivastava’s condition is stated to be critical.
PNN
