5 school students, including 2 girls, drown in Odisha; BJD & Cong express grief

Koraput/Baripada (Odisha), Mar 7 (PTI) Five school students, including two girls, drowned in separate incidents in Odisha's Koraput and Mayurbhanj districts on Saturday, police said.

Three class 10 students drowned in the backwaters of Kolab reservoir near their school in the afternoon.

They had completed their class 10 board examinations and were waiting for their parents to come and take them home. To express the joy of completing their exams, they went to play in the water but drowned, a police officer said.

Locals rescued the students and rushed them to Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital in Koraput, where doctors declared them dead.

"The students were hostel boarders, and the incident is suspected to have taken place between 3 pm and 3.30 pm. Further investigation is underway," Koraput Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Sanjay Mandal said.

The deceased have been identified as Lingaraj Khil (16), Swastik (15) and Om Prakash (16), all class 10 students of the school, police said.

While school authorities were not immediately available for a comment, family members of the deceased have alleged negligence on the part of the institute and demanded a thorough probe into the incident.

Opposition BJD and Odisha Congress have expressed grief over the deaths of three students of Koraput-based Navodaya School.

Taking to X, BJD president Naveen Patnaik said, “The news of three students from Koraput Navodaya Vidyalaya losing their lives by drowning in a reservoir is heartbreaking. I pray for the eternal peace of the departed souls. I extend my deepest condolences to the bereaved families and loved ones as they face this tragic time." OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das, in a social media post, said, "Deeply saddened by the tragic demise of three Navodaya Vidyalaya students who drowned in the Kolab reservoir in Koraput. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. May Mahaprabhu grant them strength to bear this irreparable loss." In another incident in Mayurbhanj, two girls, students of class 2, drowned while taking a bath in a pond near their village, Nachhipur, in Kaptipada police station area.

The victims, identified as seven-year-old Subhasandhya Nayak and eight-year-old Rajalaxmi Sankhual, were classmates.

Family members said the two friends went to take a bath in the pond after returning from school.

On learning that the girls were drowning, their family members rushed to the pond and pulled them out and took them to Kaptipada hospital, where doctors, however, declared them dead upon arrival, Kaptipada police station inspector in-charge Madhumita Mohanty said. PTI COR AAM ACD AAM MNB