Mayurbhanj/Jajpur/Bhubaneswar: Yesterday’s catastrophic Cyclone Fani has claimed 16 lives in Odisha till the reports last came in. While the seven deaths were reported on the day of the devastation (Friday), today (Saturday) nine more deaths were further reported from the tribal-dominated district of Mayurbhanj and Jajpur.
As per today’s report, 9 casualties have taken place in Mayurbhanj and Jajpur, four in each of the two districts while one more has been reported from Bhubaneswar.
All the victims of Mayurbhanj district have been reported as youths and they got crushed under the uprooted trees.
Two bike-borne youngmen got crushed under a tree near the Biju Patnaik Park in the district headquarters town of Baripada. One victim has been identified as Soumyakant Panda of Baripada town while another’s identity was not ascertained.
Two more bikeriders met the same fate near Murgabadi. While one youth got killed on the spot, another was hospitalized in a serious condition.
Similarly, a tree fell over a Scorpio vehicle and crushed the driver to death. This tragic incident took place near Chauliashola under Badasahi police station limits in the district here. The dead driver of the fateful Scorpio has been identified as Maheswar Bindhani of Naupal village. He was working as a temporary driver of the District Health Department. The accident took place while he was on his way back home after duty.
Cyclone Fani has also claimed four lives in Jajpur owing to uprooting of trees while in Bhubaneswar’s Damana area one person got killed as a part of the rooftop asbestos hit him hard on his head.
Notably, the extremely severe cyclonic storm FANI has already claimed seven lives across the State within hours of its landfall at Puri on Friday. While the first death was reported from Nayagarh, where a 35-year-old woman from Daspalla died after a wall of her kutcha house collapsed during heavy rains, the other casualties included two persons from Bhubaneswar, three from Puri and one from Kendrapara.