Bathing ghats in two rivers and canals surrounding Cuttack city are now turning out to be watery graves as at least six students have already died drowning during last six days. While a university student died in river Kathjodi on Thursday and two inmates of an orphanage died in a canal on Sunday, three students of a Bhubaneswar-based national institute drowned in the Mahanadi on Tuesdayafternoon.

Four students of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) had come to Gadagadia Ghat here for bathing. While none of them knew swimming, all entered into the flooded river and were trapped by a heavy current. “While one Supratik Bhattacharya managed to escape, Srushti Paul of Kolkata, Sandeep Kumar of Ranchi and Pritam Priyadarshee of Delhi drowned,” said the local Cantonment police.

When Bhattacharya informed the police, personnel from fire brigade and Odraf were deployed to trace the missing students. After over an hour of intense search, all the three students were fished out from the water and rushed to the nearby SCB hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead.

 “Although signboards are displayed at several places along the ghats warning people, who do not know swimming not to enter into water, unfortunately the mishaps are occurring,” said City DCP Sanjeev Arora.

After last year’s death of three Ravenshaw University students in the Mahanadi at Jobra, the district administration had shut down several bathing ghats, which were known to be vulnerable for having strong undercurrents. Similarly, at many other ghats, signboards were displayed warning people not to enter into water. But three back-to-back mishaps within a week have sent the local administration into a tizzy.