Bhubaneswar: As many as 8506 people have died after drowning in different water bodies across the State during the last six years from 2016 to 2021.
This was informed by Minister of State for Home, Tusharkanti Behera in the State Legislative Assembly on Monday.
Replying to an unstarred question of BJP lawmaker Sukant Kumar Nayak, the Minister said 935 people drowned in 2016, while 1079 died due to drowning in 2017.
Similarly, 1406 drowned in the year 2018, 1441 in 2019, 1840 in 2020 and 1805 in the last year (2021), he said.
Mr.Behera said the highest number of 121 drowning cases was reported from Cuttack Urban Police District (UPD) in 2016 followed by 54 in Balasore in the same year.
Mayurbhanj district reported the highest number of drowning incidents in 2017, 2018, 2019 ,2020 and 2021. While 90 people drowned in 2017, 123 drowned in 2018, 104 in 2019, 152 in 2020 and 167 in 2021.
After Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar district reported the maximum number of drowning cases. As many as 69 people drowned in 2017, 91 in 2018, 93 in 2019, 133 in 2020 and 145 in 2021, the Minister said.
In 2021, highest 167 drowning death cases were reported in Mayurbhanj district, followed by Keonjhar (145), Ganjam (111), Bhadrak (98), Kendrapara (95), Puri (80) and Jagatsinghpur (80).