Khurda: Two minor girls drowned in a pond near Atri village in Khurda district on Saturday morning.
The deceased have been identified as Alisha Behera and Shrabani Behera.
The incident took place at around 8:30 am when the two girls, accompanied by one of their grandmothers, had gone to take bath in the water body.
Unfortunately, the duo slipped and fell into the deep waters when the woman went for some work leaving them at the pond.
On returning the spot, she noticed the body of one of the girls floating in the water and raised an alarm. Following this, some villagers rushed to the spot, retrieved the body. They then rescued other girl and rushed her to the district headquarters hospital. However, the doctors declared her brought dead.
The bodies of the duo were taken back home without conducting postmortem. After the family members came to know about the need for it, they took the bodies back to the hospital.