According to Koraput district Biju Janata Dal General Secretary and former Nandapur Panchayat Samitee chairperson Gopal Bebarta, the disease had struck the area which is identified as a malaria-prone zone.

Bebarata told newsmen here that the fate of 20 tribals, affected by the killer disease, could not be immediately known as the villages in the Nandapur block were inaccessable during the monsoons.

He alleged that no medical aid had been rushed to the village despite urgent messages sent to the district authorities. The Vector Control Research Centre had already informed the district authorities that cerebral malaria had spread alarmingly in these parts causing enormous loss to its economy.

Sources said the dreaded disease had been brought under control years backthrough modified operation by the National Malaria Eradiction Programme (NMEP).

However, when contacted the state health department said they had not received any report of casualty from the health workers of the area.