Balurghat, 24 July (H.S.): A 17-year-old boy from Bihar reportedly drowned while bathing in the Atreyee River in Balurghat of Dakshin Dinajpur district on Friday. The police, district authorities and disaster response teams have launched a search operation, but the teenager remained untraced till the filing of this report.

The missing boy has been identified as Sahil Kumar (17), a resident of Nawada district in Bihar. According to police, Sahil and his two friends had travelled to Tarapith to offer prayers. After completing the rituals on Thursday night, they accidentally boarded the wrong train and fell asleep. When they woke up on Friday morning, they found themselves in Balurghat.

As their return train was scheduled for the afternoon, the three friends decided to spend time in the town and went to the Atreyee River for a bath. During the bath, Sahil allegedly ventured into deeper waters and suddenly drowned.

Local residents rushed to rescue him but were unsuccessful. On receiving information, Balurghat police reached the spot and initiated a search operation. The district administration and the disaster management team also deployed a speedboat to assist in the rescue efforts.

Despite extensive searches, Sahil had not been traced till the time of filing this report. The search operation is continuing.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey