Two students lost their lives after drowning in a pond in the Balasore district of Odisha, the police said on Friday. The incident happened on Thursday while the students were bathing in a pond near their hostel in the Balasore town.
The deceased were identified as 17-year-old Pratyush Kumar Mullick and 18-year-old Smruti Ranjan Mahabhoi. They were from the Basudevpur area of the Bhadrakh district, the police said, adding that the two were staying at a hostel in the Mansing Bazar area.
Their bodies were fished out by Fire and Emergency Services personnel and sent to the district hospital, where the doctors declared them dead. Their bodies have been sent for post-mortem and and a case of unnatural death has been registered, the police said.
Second such incident this month
This is the second such incident in a week when two student lost their lives while bathing in a pond in the Balasore district. Last Sunday (May 3), two sisters had died in a similar way while bathing in a pond.
As per the police, the cousins were bathing in a pond in the Bhuinpada village which comes under the jurisdiction of the Khantapada police station. The deceased were identified as Annapurna Mallik and Anyasa Mallik. Both were 10-year-old.
The police said the cousins had gone for bathing around 11 am but did not return home after which a search was launched. They were found in the pond after which they were rushed to the Nilagiri sub-divisional hospital, where doctors declared them dead.
Later, the police registered a case. "Prima facie, it appears to be a case of drowning. Further details will be known after the post-mortem and investigation," news agency PTI quoted an official as saying.
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