Keonjhar: A 32-year-old man drowned while three others were rescued after being swept away by the swollen Sita river near Laxmipasi village under Ghatagaon police limits in Keonjhar district on Sunday morning.The deceased was identified as Tikei Nayak of Laxmipasi village. According to police and local sources, Tikei along with his friends Biranchi Nayak, Ajit Nayak and Basant Nayak, went to bathe in the river around 11.30 am when they were caught in a sudden surge in the river caused by heavy rainfall upstream.Locals spotted the four struggling in the strong current and raised an alarm. Villagers from nearby Patasuni rushed to help and informed the Ghatagaon fire brigade. Fire services personnel launched a search and rescue operation and managed to pull Biranchi, Ajit and Basant to safety. The three were later admitted to hospital.However, Tikei went missing in the floodwaters. After an extensive search, firefighters recovered his body from a rock crevice around 2 pm and rushed him to Patna community health centre, where doctors declared him dead. Police reached the spot, seized the body and sent it for postmortem examination.IIC, Ghatagaon police station, Subhranta Kumar Jena said one person died while three others were rescued. “The body was handed over to the family after postmortem,” he said.The incident comes barely two days after another youth was reported drowned in the Musal river under Ghatagaon block after being swept away near Gundichaghai waterfall.
Firefighters search for the body
Firefighters search for the body
