Tourist drowns while taking bath at Puri beach; body recovered

A drowning incident has claimed the life of a male tourist at Puri beach near Chakratirtha in the pilgrim town. The body of the deceased youth identified as Subha Patra, who belonged to Bargarh district, was spotted on Friday near Digabareni Khunti.

Subha, who visited the coastal town yesterday with ten friends, was swept away by the sea currents while taking a bath in the afternoon today.

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According to sources, the youth had come to Puri from Bargarh along with his friends. They had reached the pilgrim town yesterday. Today morning, they went to the sea and Subha was taking a bath when he was swept deep into sea and met his watery grave.

This is the fifth such mishap in the last two months, with four other tourists still missing after similar incidents at Puri beach.

There is a growing call for intensified awareness campaigns and a stronger presence of lifeguards along the beach to enhance the safety of visitors.

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Worth mentioning, thousands of tourists throng the town every day from the Puri district and outside to have darshan of Lord Jagannath and His siblings. Usually, they also visit the sea and several of them prefer to take a bath considering it to be auspicious.

The tourists include people coming from other states as well as countries.