Old man drowns in Sonai river while trying to get drinking water

In an heart wrenching incident, an old man, identified as Sukumar Dash fell into the river. Narrating the incident an eyewitness said, “His pitcher slipped and fell into the river. While trying to rescue the pitcher he drowned in the river infront of my eyes.”

The incident took place on Thursday in Sonai river in the first block of Dungripar under Sonai Police Station of Udharband Assembly Constituency. Panic spread throughout the area as soon as his news of drowning was heard. SDRF have already reached the spot and are continuing their rescue operation. The rescue team is conducting intensive search in the river. Sonai police are also at the same spot.

Speaking about the incident locals said that the drowning happened today due to lack of clean water. People of this area are not getting clean drinking water from PHE project since last three months. They said that this incident would not have happened if they had regular water running through their pipes. Even children are going to the river for fetching water for their houses. Sukumar Dash has three daughters and an old wife in his family.