Two Class VII students of Tata DAV School Jamadoba died after drowning in the Damodar where they had gone for a bath on Monday morning.
The two, Vishal Kumar Upadhyay (15) and Archit Mishra (14), arrived at the bank of the river at 10.30am along with other boys of the Kalimela locality of Jorapokhar. Sources said Archit accidentally slipped and fell into the river after which Vishal tried to save him.
In the process, Vishal, too, fell in the water.
Their friends and acquaintances who were already in the river, some 20 meter away from the spot, immediately swam towards them to try and save them. But, they failed.
The boys then returned to their homes where they spoke of the tragedy. Soon, around 50 local residents reached the spot and tried to mount a rescue effort. They, too, failed.
By then, police had got wind of the accident and constables from two nearby police stations of Bhowra and Jorapokhar reached the spot. They took the help of local fishermen and fished out the bodies of Archit and Vishal. The two were immediately rushed to Tata Central Hospital, Jamadoba.
According to Bhowra police station officer charge Ramshankar Prasad, the two boys were declared brought dead at hospital.
Archit, alias Rahul, is the son of Dinesh Chandra Mishra, a Grade IV employee of Tata Steel Jharia division working at Sijua, while Vishal is the son of Mansukh Upadhyay, a Tata Steel Jharia division employee working at area No. 2.
The bodies of the two boys were later sent to Patliputra Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem.
Jharia councillor Jay Kumar, who arrived at the spot of the accident later, said the school was closed and the boys had gone to the river for fun. "It is very unfortunate that a mere holiday outing to the river bank, barely 200 metre from their homes, turned into a tragedy. Unfortunately they slipped and drowned," he said.
Ramcharan Mahto, a resident of Kalimela, said it was sheer ill luck that led to the deaths of the boys.
"Many residents of our locality, which is near the bank of the Damodar, are in the habit of frequenting the river. This trend increases in summer. The boys had gone there before on many earlier occasions," he said, adding that a neighbour, Phulchand Mahto, who is known to be good swimmer, was the first to trace their bodies.
