A sculpture of Santa Claus has been created on Odisha's Puri Beach using sand and onions.

Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created the 100 feet by 20 feet by 40 feet artwork using two tonnes of onion with the message 'gift a plant, green the earth'.

Pattnaik and students of his sand art school took eight hours to complete the sculpture on Christmas Eve.

"Every year, we try something different on the sand. Last year, we created a Santa Claus sculpture with tomatoes. This year, we did it with onions," Pattnaik said.

The World Record Book of India has declared this sand art installation as a new record for the world's biggest onion and sand installation of Santa Claus, Pattnaik said.

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