Odisha: TV journalist on board ODRAF rescue boat dies during save-tusker mission; lensman, disaster crew injured

BHUBANESWAR: An Odia television channel journalist died while his cameraman was seriously injured in an Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) boat capsize in Odisha's Cuttack on Friday.
?The ODRAF boat was engaged in rescuing a trapped tusker at Mundali barrage over Mahanadi.
The deceased was identified as Arindam Das.
??The injured cameraman, Pravat Sinha, has been admitted to a hospital.
"The scribe was brought dead," said Bhubanananda Maharana, emergency officer, SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack.
Of the four ODRAF personnel who were in the boat, one is still critical.
The rescue personnel and new crew were trapped in the high current of flowing water and the power boat’s engine had stopped working.
All those trapped were brought out safely with a rope ladder.
The water was flowing at high intensity.
The rescue team had barely reached near the tusker when it slipped suddenly.
All those rescued have been taken to SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack for treatment.
The tusker has been trapped in the barrage for more than three hours with crowds swelling over the bridge (constructed over the barrage).
The elephant took several attempts to swim across to the shore but failed.
The forest personnel even provided loads of bananas in a rope, but the elephant was not accessible.
“The jumbo is now stressed up and he is resting. It would weigh more than two tonnes and it would be difficult to lift it up using rope or crane. All that we can do is to wait for the animal to negotiate the current of the water and come to the shore. The NDRF team has also arrived and they will assess the situation,” said Md Jamil, divisional forest officer (Chandaka wildlife sanctuary), who is part of the elephant rescue effort.