Bhubaneswar, September 16, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Seven minors drowned in separate incidents across Odisha on Wednesday, including four school students who lost their lives while participating in Ganesh idol immersion rituals in rivers and ponds.
In Sundargarh district, three minor girls drowned in the Sankha River near their village under the Raiboga police station limits.
The deceased were identified as Gitika Sahoo, 6, and Sibika Sahoo, 7, residents of Majhatoli, and Shruti Kumari Sahoo, 9, of Dhipapada under Salangabahal panchayat.
The girls had gone to the river to bathe along with a minor boy, Pratap Sahoo. According to Raiboga police station Inspector-in-Charge Dibya Oram, the children ventured into deeper water while playing during their bath. The river was in spate, and the girls were unable to return to the shore.
Pratap managed to get out and alerted villagers. Locals subsequently rescued the girls from the river and took them to the Community Health Centre at Biramitrapur, where doctors declared them dead.
In Ganjam district, two Class IX students, Adarsh Sahu and Preetam Semeli, drowned in the Ghodahada River at Hinjili during Ganesh idol immersion. The two were among four students who had entered the river to immerse an idol. They reportedly slipped into deeper water. Locals rescued the other two students, while fire services personnel later recovered the bodies of Adarsh and Preetam.
In another Ganjam incident, 13-year-old Sitanshu Jena, a Class VIII student, drowned in a village pond at Sidhakhandi under Digapahandi police station limits.
Sitanshu and his friends had reportedly gone to the pond to immerse a Ganesh idol from their coaching centre. His foot allegedly became trapped in mud while he was carrying the idol into the water. He lost his balance and fell into deeper water. Villagers recovered him unconscious after a prolonged search, but doctors at MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur declared him dead on arrival.
In Bhadrak district, Class IX student Piyush Das, a student of a residential school at Digachia under Chandbali block, drowned while participating in Ganesh idol immersion in a pond near the school.
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