Mayurbhanj: Two girl students reportedly went missing from Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) hostel at Radho village in Udala block of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district on Thursday night.
According to sources, the girls, both studying in Class 6 at the residential school meant for educationally backward areas, were last seen during the evening prayers inside the hostel premises. However, they did not turn up for dinner around 8 pm, which immediately raised alarms among fellow students and staff.
An extensive search was conducted on the premises but they were nowhere to be found. Following which, the hostel authorities contacted their families t
o check if their had fled home. Upon learning they had not, anxious parents and relatives rushed to the school and joined the search efforts.
Meanwhile, Assistant Block Education Officer (ABEO) Minati Manjari Panda rushed to the school and initiated an inquiry into the matter. “We have launched an extensive search operation to trace the girls. All attempts are being made to locate the students at the earliest,” she told reporters.
Officials are examining how the girls managed to leave the hostel unnoticed and whether lapses in security contributed to the incident. Police and local administration have also been alerted.
Sources said that the duo was not captured leaving the hostel from the main entry gate in the CCTV cameras at the hostel and might have escaped by scaling its boundary wall. School headmistress Malati Behera, however, refused to comment on the incident.