Two in car drown in Hirakud power channel

Two persons, including a woman, were killed on Wednesday as their car jumped off the road and fell into the power channel of the Hirakud Dam on Burla side near the NH-6 in Sambalpur district.The deceased were identified as Rakesh Jha (39) and Shanti (25) of Badabazar of Sambalpur town, police said. However, two others were miraculously escaped the accident. They all were coming in a car from Athar Hazar, a picnic spot, when the incident took place.

The two who were saved were sitting in backside seats of the car. They could come out unhurt. But Rakesh Jha and Shanti could not come out and drowned in the power channel along with the car, eyewitnesses said.

Some boatmen who were near the spot recovered the dead bodies. The police then sent them to the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Science and Research at Burla for postmortem. The car was yet to be traced, police said.