Teen army aspirant drowns in Mahanadi

CUTTACK: A Plus II student, who had the aspiration to join the Indian Army, died at swimming practice in Mahanadi river in Cuttack on Sunday. Police are yet to ascertain the cause of death.
The boy has been identified as Sohail Khan (16) of Paschimakachha locality under Jagatpur police limits.
Police said, "The incident occured around 8.25 in the morning when a group of army aspirants were learning to swim in the Mahanadi river near Jobra.As part of their training, as the group entered the river, Sohail went missing during the training session in Mahanadi."
On being informed, firefighters rushed to the spot and launched a search operation to trace the missing boy. The body of Sohail was fished out of the river after an hour-long operation," the police added.
"Sohail was studying in Plus II and was always aspiring to join Indian Army. For that he regularly trained near Nimpur Cricket ground. Running and swimming were part of his preparations," said Mohammad Dawood Khan, the boy's father.
"The fire services personnel arrived at the spot after an hour of the mishap, for which my son could not be saved. They lacked adequate equipment to rescue a drowning person," alleged Mohammad.
The body was recovered and sent to the SCB Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem. Sohail's mortal remains were then handed over to his family members, informed DCP Pinak Mishra.
An unnatural death case has been registered. The trainer , identified only as Bikash, has been detained for questioning. A probe is on, Mishra said.
Sources said Bikash has been training around 40 boys to help them join the Army.