Bhubaneswar: Amid the festive atmosphere surrounding Ganesh Puja at least seven people were killed in separate mishaps in different places of Odisha.
According to sources, the mishaps include road accidents, drowning and a house fire. The incidents were reported from Jatani in Khordha district, Rourkela, Kendrapada and Balasore.
At least five people, including a woman and her child, were killed in two separate road accidents in Khordha, Sambalpur and Baleshwar districts.
In the first accident, two youths were killed after the motorcycle they were riding on crashed into a road divider at Haribhaina Chhak in Jatni in Khordha district.
The two were travelling at high speed when the rider lost control of the motorcycle and rammed into the divider. Local residents rushed to the spot after hearing about the accident and rescued the two youths. They were taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared them dead.
In the second accident, a woman and her child were killed after a coal-laden truck allegedly hit their motorcycle at CTR Chowk in Khinda under the Rengali area of Sambalpur district.
The accident led to tension in the area, with local residents staging a road blockade in protest. They demanded action in connection with the accident.
Police reached the spot and initiated an investigation into the incident.
In another road accident, a bike rider was killed after a container truck reportedly ran over the motorcycle from behind near Remuna Golei in Balasore.
In yet another mishap, a 58-year-old man was charred to death after a fire broke out in his room while he was asleep at Madhusudan Pali in the Railway Colony area of Raurkela late Sunday night.
The deceased was identified as Jitendra Saha (58). His son, Rohit Saha, who was sleeping in another room of the house, had a narrow escape.
On being informed, Plantsite police reached the spot, recovered the body and sent it to Raurkela Government Hospital (RGH) for postmortem.
In a drowning incident, a woman was rescued while her husband remained missing after the couple allegedly jumped into the Birupa river from the Balikuda bridge in Jajpur district on Monday morning, police said.
The couple, identified as Sudhakar Ojha and his wife Tilottama Ojha, residents of Talua area under Badachana block, allegedly took the extreme step following a family dispute.
A team of fire services personnel reached the spot and launched a search and rescue operation in the river and surrounding areas. During the operation, Tilottama was traced and rescued from the Mahakal Pada area in Bari. She was subsequently shifted to the Indupur Community Health Centre in Kendrapara for treatment.
However, Sudhakar was yet to be traced despite efforts by the rescuers. Fire services personnel continued their search operation in the river to locate him.