Adityapur youth drowns in Kharkai River

Adityapur: A 21-year-old youth drowned in Kharkai river Sunday evening while bathing near Radha Swami Satsangh Ghat. The incident occurred at 6 p.m. Sunday. The deceased has been identified as Shashank Ranjan Pandey.

According to information received, four youths were bathing near Radha Swami Satsang Ghat in swollen Kharkai river when Shashank drowned in the river.

Three other youths who were taking bath with Shashank are Akash, Yogesh and Anish. They said that all four of them had arrived with an intention to take bath. However, seeing the strong current of the river 3 of them decided to stay away from the river and not bathe.

However, they said, Shashank did not relent and stepped into the river to take bath.

They said that Shashank crossed the river and reached the opposite bank of the river at Baroda Ghat. However, while returning he drowned in the strong currents of the river.

They said that they kep screaming for help, but there was no one else there to help him.

The deceased, Shashank Ranjan Pandey, was a student of Jamshedpur Co-Operative College. His father is a Pujari and rears cattle. Shashank was grandson of the late pujari of Transport Colony Shiv Mandir Bhanuprasad Tiwari.

Soon after receiving information about the incident, RIT Police reached the site of occurrence. However, the police expressed inability in launching a rescue operation at night in view of the strong current in the river.

The body is yet to be recovered.