Overview

• Police in Ganjam, Bhadrak and Pipili have registered separate inquiries into the fatal chariot, DJ vehicle and bus incidents during Ratha Yatra
• The ORTC bus crash near Pipili killed three 20-year-old Sangeet Mahavidyalaya students—Priyadarshini Sahoo, Elina Das and Kajal Das—after they fell under its wheels while avoiding a wrong-way two-wheeler
• In Ganjam’s Shikula village, Shibaram Behera slipped under a moving Ratha Yatra chariot and later died in hospital
• A DJ vehicle overturned on an uneven road stretch at Anaharapur in Bhadrak, crushing 14-year-old Soumyaranjan Raut
• Authorities face renewed calls to bolster road safety measures and crowd management protocols on festival routes to prevent further tragedies