Cuttack: A PIL filed in Orissa High Court has sought intervention for comprehensive precautionary measures by the state government to prevent rip current deaths at the state's beaches.

Rip current is a tide that flows away from the beach.

Dinabandhu Mishra, 86, a retired engineer, filed the petition on Wednesday, expressing concern that though rip current is the prime cause of death of sea-goers in Odisha, it has never been targeted by the state government "for strategic prevention". It is the number one hazard for beach goers and can pull even the strong-est swimmers out to sea.

Waves are caused by winds and these waves do not always break evenly along the shore. And when they break more strongly in some areas than others, it can cause a circulation in the water that produces a rip current (basically a strong channel of water extending from the shore out into the water).

In the petition, Mishra has sought the court's direction to the state government to take steps to protect the lives of the victims of rip current by pre-determining and notifying bathing places along the coast.

"People should be advised to take bath at such demarcated places only and nowhere else. At such demarcated places, large signboards sho-uld be fixed in Odia, Bengali, Hindi and English, warning the bathers about the danger from rip current and precautions to be taken to save their own lives," the petition said.

According to the petition, the US Lifeguard Association estimates that nearly 100 people die in rip currents each year, and that lifeguards had saved over 48,000 people from it in 2015 alone. The US coastline is 1,52,754km.

"But in Odisha, particularly at Puri beach with a coastline of only 8km, the death rate has been 21 in 2009, 23 in 2010 and 13, 25 and 28 in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively," the petition said.

Apart from Puri beach, the state has Chandrabhaga beach, Gopalpur beach, Balighai beach and Chandipur beach, which attract local and foreign people with a risk of being caught up by the rip current.

The petition has further sought the court's direction to submit a report indicating rip current casualties in the past decade, including this year's steps taken to minimise the same.

"The strong flow of rip current can sweep you off your feet, even an adult standing in waist-deep water in a rip current would find it hard to stay in the same place. Therefore, it is essential to create awareness among the people as to how do they save their lives even if they are caught up by a rip current," the petitioner contends.