Red flags on Puri beach after four tourists die in two days

By Saroj Kumar Behera

Puri, May 5: With four tourists losing their lives in the sea in a span of two days, the Puri district administration on Friday put up red flags warning in Sector-13 near Swargadwar to prevent further mishaps on the occasion of Chandra Yatra.

As a precautionary measure, the administration has placed red flags in a bid to restrict people from going to accident-prone areas in the sea. The preventive step came after four tourists drowned while taking bath in the sea in two days.

All the deceased were tourists from West Bengal, reports said.

In the first incident, a man and his son along with their friends were enjoying themselves in the sea when a huge tide came and swept away three of them. While the lifeguards managed to rescue one of them, the father-son duo met with a watery grave.

Similarly, two other tourists also from West Bengal were taking bath in the sea when they were swept away by huge waves. Despite the deployment of lifeguards, the rise in drowning deaths has become a matter of serious concern.

Even as thousands of tourists visit Puri every day, there are only 100 lifeguards deployed on the beaches to prevent drowning deaths. On the other hand, tourists also alleged a lack of awareness activities by the district administration.