Nabarangpur: Two eight-year-old cousins (sisters) drowned in a village pond at Sana Damapala under Khutbai Gram Panchayat of Papadahandi block in Nabarangpur district on Monday.
The deceased were identified as Manasi Harijan (8) of Damapala village and Melka Harijan (8) of Paknaguda village. According to reports, Melka had been staying at her maternal uncle’s house in Damapala along with Manasi and studying there.
Sources said the two children had gone to their village school earlier in the day and returned home in the afternoon. Later, Manasi and Melka went outside with another friend. The three children reportedly went to bathe in a village pond near the locality.
While bathing, Manasi and Melka allegedly slipped into deeper water and drowned. Their accompanying friend rushed back home and informed family members about the incident.
On being alerted, the family members informed the Fire Services and Kodinga police. Fire service personnel, along with villagers, launched a search operation in the pond and managed to retrieve the two children.
The bodies were later handed over to the police after the rescue.
Following a written complaint from the family members, Kodinga police registered two separate cases, seized the bodies and sent them to the Nabarangpur District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) for post-mortem examination.
Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) of Kodinga police station Deepak Kumar Jena confirmed the incident and said further investigation is underway.
