Fire brigade personnel rescue a boy on Mahanadi. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Oct. 30: Three school students drowned in the Mahanadi today.

The victims were aged between 12 and 14 years and were students of two Odia medium schools. Instead of going to school, the boys had gone for a swim in the river, when the mishap occurred around 10.30am.

The deceased were identified as Sk Farzan of Police High School, Sk Abdula , a madrassa student and Sk Abrar of PM Academy School. All of them were students of Class VIII.

Sk Salman Baux, 14, a Class X student of Police High School, has gone missing in the incident.

Local people said seven children from Buxi Bazar had gone to the riverbank after skipping schools in the morning. “We were taking bath when four of our friends slipped into the river and went missing. We shouted for help and tried to rescue them, but in vain,” said Farzan’s brother Sk Sarfaraz.

Sarfaraz said all of them had come to the Gadagadia ghat on three bicycles for bathing.

An eyewitness said the children were not aware of the river’s depth and simply jumped into the river.

The local people had immediately informed the fire brigade, which launched a rescue operation.

The fire brigade officials fished out the bodies of Farzan, Abdula and Abrar and immediately rushed them to SCB Medical College and Hospital. But, the doctor at SCB declared them brought dead.

“We are looking for the missing boy,” said a fire official.

Local residents alleged that there had been a rise in the number of drowning incidents at various bathing ghats of the Mahanadi and Kathajodi rivers.

So far, 10 people have died because of drowning in the both the rivers this year. Last month, two students died after drowning in the Kathjodi near Gopalpur.