A wave of tragedy has struck Odisha as multiple drowning incidents claimed the lives of several children this week. In Bhadrak’s Arandua village, two minor girls—identified as the daughters of Satyabrat Barik and Bijay Barik—drowned in a local pond on Friday morning.
The girls had gone to the pond to search for oysters when they accidentally slipped into deep water.
This follows a string of similar fatalities across the state. In Cuttack, brothers Debashish and Subhashish Sahu drowned near the Birupa Barrage, while another youth was swept away in the Mahanadi river.
Meanwhile, in Keonjhar, siblings Aman and Kushal Ansari (aged 9 and 12) met a tragic end while bathing in a pond in the Raisuan area.
These heart-wrenching losses, many occurring during or after festive celebrations, have sparked urgent calls for increased water safety awareness and stricter supervision of children near water bodies.