Keonjhar: Two eight-year-old girls drowned in a pond at Kalanda village in Keonjhar district today, the police said.
The grils were identified as Pratikshya, daughter of Sanjay Pradhan and Ramakanta Pradhan's daughter Pravati. They were students of standard two at Greenfield School at Hadapadia.
Police said that one girl had slipped into the pond and the another died trying to rescue her. The fire brigade personnel recovered the bodies from the water after a two-hour operation.
The bodies have been sent for postmortem, Sadar Police Station IIC Satish Nayak said.