Bhubaneswar: A 21-year-old youth reportedly drowned in an abandoned stone quarry in Nijigarh Tapang area of Odisha’s Khurda district today.

The deceased has been identified as Ashutos Behera of CDA Sector 13 area in Cuttack city.

The incident took place when Ashutos along with his female friend and four others visited the abandoned stone quarry in the morning, sources said.

Ashutos’ female friend fell into the rainwater-filled quarry after she slipped her feet while shooting a reel for her social media account.

In order to save his female friend from drowning, Ashutos jumped into the quarry. The 21-year-old drowned but his female friend, somehow, managed to come out of the quarry, sources added.

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On being informed, the police along with Fire Brigade and ODRAF personnel launched an operation and fished out Ashutos’ body in the afternoon.

“The incident occurred when Ashutos along with five of his friends, including three girls, visited the abandoned quarry in the morning. We are conducting a probe to find out details regarding the circumstances that led to the drowning incident. We have informed the incident to his family,” said Khurda Sadar Police IIC Kanhu Charan Swain.

Notably, the abandoned quarry with its blue water and vertical cliffs looks like a picturesque foreign location.

The Khurda district administration had declared the quarry, locally known as Hatia Mundia, a prohibited area for people in September, 2020.