Five tourists drown in Orissa pool

BHUBANESWAR - At least five tourists, including three children and a woman, drowned while taking a bath in a sacred pool at a pilgrimage site in Orissa’s Mayurbhanj district Friday, police said.

The accident occurred at Bhimkund - a natural 1,000-foot-deep water tank that the river Baitarani flows into, about 200 km from here.

“The bodies of the victims have been recovered,” a district police official told IANS.

According to legend, Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers used to take bath in Bhimkund when they were leading their incognito life in Birat Nagar, the present Kaptipada in the district.

Hundreds of pilgrims and tourists visit the area every day.