Kendrapara: An 11-year-old girl drowned in a creek while attending nature's call during school hours.

The girl ventured out because the school toilet was allegedly locked up by the authorities on Tuesday. The incident took place at Dhanipada village in Mahakalpada police limits.

Headmistress of the school Kanchanbala Behera has been suspended for dereliction of duty and salaries of three other teachers have been withheld as a disciplinary step, said district education officer Udaynath Majhi.

The body of the girl, Rajashri Patnaik, a Class VI student at Dhaniapada Upper Primary School, was retrieved on Wednesday from a creek in the village. She had been reported missing from the school on Tuesday.

An unnatural death case has been registered, police said. "The girl died only because she was not allowed to use the school toilet. The school authorities are solely responsible for her death. Legal action needs to be initiated against the school authorities," said Prasanna Rout, a resident of the village.

"It is an act of gross negligence on part of the school headmistress and other teachers. The girl should not have been permitted to go outside during school hours. The department is investigating the circumstances in which the school toilet was locked up," said the district education officer.

The state government had recently ordered the school and mass education department to stop students from leaving the campus during school hours.

On Tuesday, the student of a government-run primary school died and two others were injured when part of an unsafe building close to their school collapsed in the afternoon at Binayakpur in Bhadrak district.

The students were plucking berries from a tree when the mud wall caved in. The victim girl was crushed under the debris and died on the way to hospital. The incident had occurred during the break time.