Berhampur: A 11-year-old boy died after falling into an open drain at Haridakhandi area in Odisha’s Berhampur town on Wednesday evening.
The deceased has been identified as Sairam Patra of Laxminrusingh Sahi under Bada Bazaar police limits
According to sources, Sairam was riding his bicycle back home from tuition around 8 pm when he fell into an open drain, which was overflowing due to incessant rainfall. Locals managed to recover the bicycle, but there was no trace of the boy. After an exhaustive search that lasted over several hours, Sairam’s body was retrieved from the drain around 2 am by Fire Service personnel. His body was sent for postmortem after the Collector Ganjam Divyajyoti Parida rushed to MKCG Medical College and Hospital.
Locals have blamed the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) for the incident.
“Two drains are connected to a culvert in the area. It appears that Sairam slipped and fell into the drain while attempting to retrieve his bicycle from the drain,” BeMC Commissioner Bhabani Prasad Mishra said.
Berhampur Mayor Sanghamitra Dalai said that the drain was covered on one side, but a little work was yet to be completed on the other side.
