Odisha drowning case: Bodies of all four school students recovered

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Oct 22:

The bodies of all the four students of a school in Odisha capital,who had drowned in the Barang-Puri main canal on Tuesday, have now been fished out.

While the bodies of three students – identified as Abhijit Sabat, Bunty Digal and Manas Nayak – were recovered from the canal by fire brigade personnel yesterday, the body of the fourth student Pratap Routray was fished out at around 5 am today.

All of them were students of class IX of the Government High School at Rail Vihar in Chandrasekharpur in Bhubaneswar.

The Sub Collector and District Education Officer today morning began an inquiry into the tragic incident by visiting the school. They spoke to teachers, students and guardians in the course of their inquiry.

It may be noted that Minister for Schools and Mass Education Debi Prasad Mishra had yesterday ordered the district administration to conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit a report within 24 hours.

Mishra and local BJD MLA Priyadarshi Mishra today visited the school to have a first hand account of the situation after the tragic incident.

“Immediately after the incident, I had asked the collector to conduct an inquiry and submit a report within 24 hours. The process has begun and the sub collector and DEO have visited the school and have spoken to different stake holders. Once the report is submitted, appropriate action will be taken,” said the minister.

According to the statement of a student, who was also in the group that had gone to take bath in the canal, a lady teacher of the school had scolded them and had asked them not to come to school for 15 days as they were found playing during recess by the teacher.

Fourteen students of the Government High School at Rail Vihar had skipped school on Tuesday and had gone to Barang area to while away time. While in the area, they decided to take a bath in the canal that proved fatal for four of them.

Four students had jumped into the canal to rescue a friend whose feet had slipped while he was bathing. Though one of them was rescued, four others were swept away by the strong current in the canal.