2 youths meet watery grave while taking bath in Brahmani river in Odisha’s Jajpur

Dharmasala: Two youths, who happen to be friends, drowned today while taking a bath in Brahmani river at Gokarneswar ghat under Dharmasala police limits in Jajpur.

The two deceased were identified as Soumya Ranjan Maharana aka Muna and Gobinda Rana, who belonged to Kumari village under Jaraka police limits of the district. Gobinda was working as a salesman in a local cloth store in Jaraka.

According to a police source, the two friends had gone to the river at around 1.00 pm to take a bath. Unfortunately, their legs slipped and both went deep into the water leading to their untimely deaths.

Some locals strived for nearly an hour and fished out the youths from the river water. The two were later taken to a government-run health facility in Dharmasala. However, doctors at the hospital declared them ‘brought dead’.

“I got the information at around 1.00 pm that Muna had gone to the river to take a bath and drowned. Immediately I reached the spot along with 3-4 others and launched a frantic search. We fished out the two youths and admitted them to the hospital but to no avail. The doctor is saying that they are dead,” the deceased Soumya’s elder brother-in-law Santosh Achary stated.

On being informed, Dharmasala police reached the hospital and initiated a probe to ascertain the actual cause of death. “Post-mortem of the bodies will be done later in the day,” a senior cop said.