Bhadrak: In a tragic incident, a 13-year-old girl drowned while trying to retrieve floated miniature boats from a pond at a village in Basudevpur area of Odisha’s Bhadrak district on Monday.
The incident took place in Mahalik Sahi of Padhuan village under Basudevpur police limits when people celebrated Kartika Purnima by floating miniature paper boats in the village pond, sources said.
The girl drowned while trying to retrieve some miniature boats from the pond. She was rescued by villagers and rushed to the Community Health Centre (CHC) nearby. However, she was declared dead by the attending doctors at the CHC.
It may be noted that people in Odisha observed ‘Boita Bandana’ by setting afloat miniature boats in water bodies commemorating the ancient maritime activities.