Malkangiri: Kartik Purnima celebrations turned tragic after a 12-year-old girl drowned in a pond while collecting items from a paper boat at Champanagar in Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Friday morning.
The identity of the deceased is yet to be ascertained.
According to reports, the minor had gone to the pond with her friends at around 6.00 am today to watch the Boita Bandana festival. After everyone had left the place, these children entered the pond to collect the items placed by devotees in the paper boats. Unfortunately, while her friends came out of the pond with their collected items, the deceased went into deep water and drowned.
Seeing her drown, other children ran away to their homes in fear. As the deceased did not return home after several hours, her family members launched a search for her. In the meantime, some villagers spotted the girl’s body floating in the pond and informed her family.
On being informed, Fire Services personnel reached the village and fished out the body of the minor girl.
