Bhubaneswar, April 11: Three students of a private engineering college drowned today while bathing in Jhumuka reservoir on the outskirts of the city. Fire brigade personnel fished out the bodies after a five-hour search operation.

The deceased were identified as Satyajit Mishra (20) from Kotpada area in Berhampur, Aman Jain (19) from Kesinga in Kalahandi district and Chand Kishore Majhi (21) from Mayurbhanj district.

According to the college sources, nine students of the institute, who were staying in the college hostel, had gone to Jhumuka dam around 10am this morning. While three of them were doing their masters in technology, six were the students of bachelor in technology.

Debabrata Barik, one of these nine students, said around 12.30pm while three of them were sitting on the embankment of the dam, others went to take a bath. As they entered the deep end, they started drowning. “While one of them swam to one side of the dam, others got stuck. We could save two,” he said.