Drowning in Puri: Body of 1 student fished out, another missing

Puri: The body of one of the two students, identified as Akash Khakha, who had drowned while taking bath in Puri sea beach on Friday was fished out today.

Reportedly, eight students from Western Odisha had come to play cricket match in Bhubaneswar. As there was no match scheduled for Friday, all of them went to Puri to visit Srimandir and later went to the sea beach near Chaitanya Chowk.

Suddenly, a strong current in the water pulled four of them. However, two were immediately rescued by the lifeguards and ODRAF personnel present on the beach after launching a search operation.

Despite search operations, Akash Khakha and another Jadumani Sekhar Bachha could not be traced. The rescue guards continued their search and finally fished out the body of Akash today, while Jadumani's body is still missing, sources added.

“Sunday evening, my son came here for cricket selection. They played here for two days and as there was a gap yesterday, all went to Puri to visit Srimandir and sea beach. I was informed last evening about the incident by one of their parents,” Chaman Khakha, Akash’s father said.

Meanwhile, Coach Abinash Kar stated that all of them went to Puri without informing him. “I was repeatedly calling them over phone, but they said they are on campus. Later, after the incident happened, one of them telephoned me again and informed that two have gone missing in Puri beach following which I rushed,” he said.