Dibrugarh: The 13-year-old dived into raging floodwaters without thinking twice as Borun struggled to keep afloat amid the sweeping currents.To save his three-month-old puppy, Borun, 13-year-old Hridip Panika jumped into floodwaters but was swept away before help could arrive for him.Hridip, a Class 7 student at a Model School in Bamun Pukhuri village under Nazira in Sivasagar district, was the only child of Deepak and Parbati Panika of Bamunpukhuri Tea Estate.On July 27, he saw Borun being swept away as floodwaters surged through the village. He jumped in and rescued the puppy, but the powerful current pulled him under. Rescuers later recovered his body after a frantic search.The family already lost their home and belongings. The death of their only child deepened the tragedy. Images of Hridip’s grieving parents beside his body, with the puppy nearby, spread widely on social media, wrenching hearts nationwide.Speaking through tears on Friday, his father recalled that the puppy was brought home when he was two-and-a-half months old, only weeks before the tragedy. “My son sacrificed his life for the love of his puppy,” he said.Content creator Homoy Gogoi visited the family and gave them Rs 50,000 in immediate aid from a Rs 1 lakh community relief fund for flood-affected families.Hridip’s death came amid floods that have killed at least 80 people and affected nearly seven lakh across Assam. Residents of Sivasagar, Charaideo and Jorhat said they never witnessed floods of this magnitude.
