Sambalpur: An eighteen-year-old engineering student of the Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) at Burla in this district is feared drowned in Hirakud Dam where he had been on a picnic with friends Monday.
The student was Surya Gopal, a third-year engineering student of VSSUT at Burla. Surya hailed from Khasta Sahi of Berhampur in Ganjam district. Surya studied at VSSUT and stayed in the college hostel.
Monday morning, he along with four of his friends went to the dam on a picnic. After visiting the local Jhankarani temple, the five went to take bath in the dam. It was then that the tragedy struck them.
His friends said that, while taking bath, Surya slipped. Currents pulled him in. Despite efforts by the friends, he was washed away. The friends alerted the locals but they could not be of any help. His body has not been traced, police said, adding a search operation was under way.
