College student drowns in sea during study tour in Odisha’s Ganjam

A Plus III final-year male student from Prananath (Autonomous) College in Khurda district drowned on Saturday while taking a bath in sea during a study tour at Gopalpur beach near Dhabaleswar temple in Ganjam district.

The deceased identified as Somnath Parida was at the beach with approximately 50 other students when he went missing during a swim in the sea, whereupon a frantic search was launched and his body was subsequently found.

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Somnath’s family has accused the college authorities of negligence, highlighting their role in his untimely demise.

“They (the students) had not gone for any study tour and rather were feasting in a forest near Dhabaleswar temple at Gopalpur beach. Their teachers were feasting when he went to take a bath in the sea and met his watery grave,” a relative of Somnath alleged.

“Study tour was part of their practical learning, for which the students were compelled to participate. But, they had not visited the Doppler Radar, what we have known from other sources, but were picnicking,” the relative of Somnath said.

In contrast, a college lecturer has expressed that the students entered the sea water without informing anyone beforehand. “Stealthily around 4-5 students had gone to the sea. When they were not seen around, I suspected that they might have gone to the nearby temple. I had asked a faculty to enquire about it and later the student’s body was spotted,” the college lecturer Hemant Kumar Pradhan stated.

On being informed, police seized Somnath’s body and registered a case in this connection. Police later sent the body for post-mortem and are presently probing the death.

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“Some students of a college from Khurda had come to Gopalpur on a study tour. One of the students has drowned in water. Based on an FIR, we have registered a case of ‘negligence’ and initiated a probe,” Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M. expressed.

“The teachers who had brought the students by taking the responsibility will be probed,” the Berhampur SP added while briefing mediapersons.