Two Class 12 students drown while bathing in Odisha’s Ganjam pond

Berhampur (Odisha): Two class 12 students of a private school here drowned in a pond while bathing in Odisha's Ganjam district on Sunday, police said. The deceased were identified as Biswajit Panda (16) and Abhijit Marndi (17), of Berhampur town. According to the police, five friends, including the deceased students, went to bathe in Bori Bandh, near Ankuli, under the Baidyanath Pur police station limit in Berhampur.

While they were practising swimming in the pond, two drowned, while local people and firefighters rescued another one. The other two students, however, returned safely by swimming, police said. The firefighters rushed to the spot immediately and rescued three people. While Panda and Marndi were declared dead by the doctors at MKCG Medical College and Hospital here, the other person was discharged after treatment, a police officer.

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After the post-mortem, the bodies were handed over to their parents to perform their last rites, he said. Cases have been registered at the Baidyanath Pur police station, and further investigation is underway to find out the circumstances leading to their death, the police officer informed.