Paradip: What started off as a celebration turned out to be a tragedy for three students of the local Kendriya Vidyalaya Tuesday as they were washed away by strong currents of the sea while playing volleyball on the beach.
Two were rescued while another was reported missing till last reports came in. A Saijyoti and Subham Kulu were rescued by a fisherman and rushed to the Biju Memorial Hospital in Paradip Port for treatment.
Efforts are on by fire services personnel and local fishermen to rescue the third missing boy Ansuman Das, son of Ajay Das of Gopaljew Colony at Madhuban in the port city and a Class IX student.
CISF personnel, fire brigade, marine police as well as local fishermen undertook a search operation to trace the missing boy. A major mishap was averted when six coast guard personnel had a narrow escape during the rescue operation after their motor boat developed technical glitches and overturned in the sea.
Reports initially claimed that the students were participating in a Swachh Bharat programme organised by the Paradip municipality on the beach on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti Tuesday morning when the mishap took place.
Locals blamed the civic authorities for the mishap as they claimed that lack of safety measures during the public event resulted in the mishap. However, their claims were found untrue. The place where the mishap took place was 500-mtrs from the venue of the meeting.
The incident happened when at least six students were playing volleyball on the beach. A friend of the missing student, they were playing volleyball when the three dived into the sea to take bath.
However, the three students within no time were sucked into the sea by the strong currents.