With five more bodies recovered on Friday from the Jalaput reservoir in Koraput district, the search operation launched on behalf of the district administration to trace the six missing persons since May 24 has come to a close.
One body had been recovered on Thursday. Meanwhile, the district administration has announced an ex-gratia of Rs12,000 to the next of kin of each of the deceased. It may be noted here that seven persons from Chitalpada village under Nandapur block had gone to Muchimput haat in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh in the morning of May 24. While returning, tragedy struck them near Padua village as the country boat in which they were travelling capsized in the reservoir. While some villagers could rescue Nagesh Khemundu, the other six went under the water. Fire brigade and ODRAF teams were pressed into the rescue operations.
