Bhubaneswar: Six children and two women drowned in separate incidents in Odisha while celebrating the auspicious Kartik Purnima on Wednesday, while a girl child was still missing, police said.
Two baby girls drowned in the Genguti river in Shankuntalapur village of Jajpur district when they slipped into the water while trying to float tiny boats to celebrate Kartik Purnima.
In Balasore district, two minor brothers died while trying to collect tiny boats in Badabhanga village, said police.
In a similar incident in Kendrapara district, a boy died in the Chapali canal in Mahakalapada while collecting paper boats, while a four-year-old drowned in a pond in Khamala in Derabish in the same district.
Two women drowned in the Ib river when the boat in which they were travelling capsized near Khait village in Jharsuguda district, while a girl child went missing.
Kartik Purnima, the full moon day of the Hindu month of Kartik, is celebrated across the state. People float miniature boats, with lamps, betel leaves, fruits and coins in the early hours.
