Five-Year-Old Swept Away After Falling Into Canal Flooded By Rainwater In Odisha Capital

Bhubaneswar: A five-year-old boy died after he fell into a canal flooded by rainwater and was swept away in Odisha’s capital on Sunday, according to media reports.

The boy was playing outside his house when he reportedly fell into the nearby Gangua canal, which was swollen with rainwater.

“He was playing outside the house with other children. After 15-20 minutes, when we looked for him, he was missing. Some people told us that he fell into the canal and was swept away. His body was found during search operations,” a relative was quoted by a news portal as saying.

Fire services personnel rushed to the spot and rescued the boy. He was rushed to hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

The body was sent to Capital Hospital for postmortem. A case has been registered.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been under fire for several such incidents over the last few years.

In September last year, a 15-year-old school student was swept away after falling into an open stormwater drain flooded by rainwater in the Shatabdi Nagar area in Bhubaneswar. The body of Jyoti Prakash Behera, a Class X student, was recovered after nearly 20 hours following a massive search operation.