Balasore: In a tragic incident, a youth drowned to death and two others went missing while taking bath in Budhabalang river in Odisha’s Balasore district today. The deceased was identified as Ankit Pati from Kadamsahi under Nilagiri NAC.

Ankit and four of his college batchmates, Ranjan Kumar Sala, Piyush Pratyush Naik, Mrutunjoy Mishra and Jyotrimaya Das reached Chandipur today morning. After eating their food, they took bath in Budhabalang river at Triveni Ghat.

However, Ankit, Piyush Pratyush and Mrutunjoy accidentally fell into deep water while taking bath. The three youths remained untraceable for a few minutes, following which Ranjan Kumar and Jyotrimaya searched for them.

Later Ranjan and Jyotrimaya reached the river bank and informed the locals when they failed to search for their three friends. Locals launched a rescue work and fished out the body of Ankit.

Meanwhile, the Fire Service personnel reached the spot after receiving information. Till the filing of this report, Piyush Pratyush and Mrutunjoy remained untraceable.

A team of NDRF personnel also launched a rescue operation following the Balasore District Collector’s directive.