Death toll in Devi river drowning mounts to 2, another student still missing

The death toll in the Devi River drowning at Machhagaon Ghat in Jagatsinghpur district mounted to two after body of another student was fished out on Monday evening.

According to sources, a Plus 2 student drowned and two others went missing while taking bath in the river.

While the body of one student was fished out in the afternoon, the body of another student was recovered later in the day. 

Till the last report came in, the third student was still missing. 

While the identities of the deceased and the missing student could not be ascertained immediately, it was learnt that they were from Bhubaneswar. 

According to a source, four students, three from Bhubaneswar and one from a nearby village Ambasala went to the Machhagaon Ghat of the river to take bath. 

While bathing, one after another, all the students slipped into the deep of the river. Hearing their cries, villagers came rushing to the spot and started searching for the missing students. 

They found one of the students standing on the bank of the river in a nervous state as his friends went missing in front of his eyes. They immediately rushed him to Balikuda government hospital. 

In the meantime, the fire station was informed about the incident. Later, fire personnel joined the villagers and launched a search operation. 

(Reported by Sasanka Sekhar Panda, OTV)