Russian woman drowns in Puri

PURI: A Russian woman drowned while taking a dip in Mahodadhi tirth near the Swargadwar area of the Puri sea beach on Tuesday. The deceased has been identified as Valushairina, an ISKCON devotee. The 47-year-old woman was dragged into the sea by an undercurrent while taking a dip with five other foreigners. Her fellow devotees and local fishermen rushed to her rescue and brought her to the beach. Though the woman was then rushed to a nearby government hospital, doctors declared her dead. She was one among the  60-member group of foreigners visiting Puri and was scheduled to leave on Thursday. The sea beach police registered a case and sent her body for postmortem.