Kendrapada/Berhampur: As many as eight people, including four children, drowned in separate incidents across three districts on Wednesday during Ganesha idol immersion.In Jagatsinghpur district, four men, in their twenties, drowned in Budha river during immersion under Earsama police station limits, while four teenaged students met the same fate during immersions in Ganjam and Bhadrak districts.According to Jagatsinghpur police and eyewitness accounts, the incident took place around 1 pm when a group of residents from Orala village went to the river for immersion. Sushil Palei (25), Manjit Swain (25), Rashmi Ranjan Nayak (26) and Swapnajeet Barik (22) were swept away by strong water currents. Hearing their frantic cries for help, nearby locals rushed to rescue them but were thwarted by the swift water flow.A local, Dhaneswar Rout, said a deep pit near the river’s entry point caused the victims to lose their footing instantly. Personnel from the local fire brigade and Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force retrieved all four. They were taken to the community health centre (CHC) in Earsama, where attending doctors declared them dead on arrival. Police sent the bodies to Kujang CHC for postmortem. Assistant sub-inspector Pramod Kumar Ray said they have launched an investigation.In Ganjam, three school students drowned during immersions in two separate incidents. Class IX students Adarsh Sahu and Preetam Sameli (both 14) drowned in Ghodahada river in Hinjili, while Sitanshu Jena (13), a Class VIII student, met the same fate in a village pond at Sidhakhandi under Digapahandi police station limits.Adarsh and Preetam, part of a group of students who had gone for idol immersion, reportedly slipped into deep water. Fire services personnel later rescued them and shifted them to the sub-divisional hospital in Hinjili, where doctors declared them dead.Sitanshu also went to a pond with fellow students from his coaching centre to immerse a Ganesha idol when he slipped into deep water, according to police. Villagers rescued him and rushed him to MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur, where doctors declared him dead.The bodies were handed over to the families after postmortem.Another tragedy struck during immersion in Digachia under Chandbali block of Bhadrak district, when a 15-year-old Class XI student drowned.
