Six children drown

As people across Odisha celebrated the Boita Bandana festival on the occasion Kartik Purnima, as many six children reportedly drowned in rivers and canals in different parts of the State on Wednesday.

The children, including two girls, met their watery grave while collecting miniature boats that were floated by people at the break of dawn to celebrate the festival.

While two girls drowned in Genguti river in Jajpur district, two brothers died in Baleswar district. Two more such deaths in separate incidents were reported from Kendrapara district. The bodies of all the six children were fished out by the locals. In another incident, a woman and a child drowned as a boat capsized in Ib river in Jharsuguda district.