Jagatsinghpur: In a tragic incident, a retired teacher went missing while trying to rescue his nephew who drowned in the Mahanadi River near the Tirtol bridge in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district on Sunday.
The incident took place while the family was performing a ‘Dashaha’ ritual of the victim’s mother on Sunday.
The deceased has been identified as Kanha Jena. Search is on to trace his missing uncle, Sampada Kumar Jena of Nagapur village under Balikuda block in the district.
Sources said the rituals were underway along the riverbank when Kanha accidentally slipped and got dragged deep into the river water.
In a bid to save his nephew, Sampad jumped into the river but went missing in the process. Rescue operation was launched by Fire Service personnel and local divers.
Kanha was pulled out of the water and rushed to Manijanga Community Health Centre (CHC), where doctors declared him dead upon arrival. However, Sampada remained untraced and rescue efforts are on.