Three Boys Drown While Bathing in Odisha Puri District

Bhubaneswar: Three teenage boys drowned while bathing in a river in Astaranga area of Odisha’s Puri district on Tuesday, police said.

Four friends went to take a bath in the Devi river near their village. Three of them slipped into the deep water and swept away in the heavy current of the river.

The other friend informed the villagers about the incident and the three were fished out, police said.

After they were taken to a hospital, doctors declared them brought dead.

The deceased were identified as Ayushman Behera (13), Ritesh Behera (14) and Rohan Behera (13) of Balidia village under Astaranga police limits.

Meanwhile, in another incident in Bhubaneswar during the day, a 10-year-old boy was swept away after he fell into an open and wide drain which was filled with water following heavy rainfall, police said.

Abu Bakr Shah, a resident of Masjid Colony in Unit-3 area, fell into the drain while trying to collect a balloon from there.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh for his family. It will be paid from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), the Chief Minister’s Office said in a statement.

Majhi has also directed the officers concerned to cover all open drains in Bhubaneswar city.

Bhubaneswar Mayor Sulochana Das said, "It was a tragic incident. We are trying our best to avoid such incidents and will continue to work in this direction. A total of 77 km of drainage channel is there in Bhubaneswar city. It cannot be possible to cover all drains at one time.” The work to clean and cover the open drains before the monsoon was delayed due to enforcement of the election model code of conduct, she said. 

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