Search operations under way in the Puri main canal and (right) the bags that belonged to the students. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 21: Two students drowned, while two others went missing as they were taking a bath in the Puri main canal near Barang on the city outskirts this afternoon.

The victims were among the 14 Class IX students of Government High School, Chandrasekharpur Phase I, who had gone to the canal to take a bath after visiting the Nadankanan zoo.

While the deceased were identified as Abhijit Sabat and Bablu Digal, those missing are Pratap Chandra Routray and Manas Ranjan Naik. They were all 14 years of age.

Fire officials from Cuttack, a team of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and trained scuba divers were rushed to the spot to trace the missing students, who continue to remain untraced.

Sachin Kumar Subudhi, an eyewitness who had accompanied the group to the canal, said that six of them had decided to take a bath in the canal after visiting the zoo.

“While two of them were rescued by a local resident, the rest were washed away by the currents,” said Subudhi. All of the students were in school uniform.

The students said they had planned to visit the zoo after 10 of them were barred from attending school authorities for 15 days on Friday for causing disturbance.

“Since they had not told their parents about the punishment, they left their homes wearing school uniform but kept cycling around the city till it was time to return home. They had planned to visit the zoo and go back home after school hour was over,” Sachin said. “We started our journey on nine bicycles and reached the zoo around 12noon. After spending nearly one and a half hour in the zoo, six of us decided to take a bath in the canal,” said a survivor. The students had also taken extra clothes with them. However, the school authorities denied the allegation of punishment.

“We have not suspended anyone from the school. Some of them were not coming to the school regularly since Saturday. However, we did not inform their parents, as we usually do when students skip school, for more than three days,” said headmistress Bijaylaxmi Mohanty.

The father of Abhijit Sabat, one of the deceased, said he was not aware of his son’s visit to the zoo.

“He left for school on time as usual. The school authorities did not inform us about any kind of disciplinary action against him,” he said.

Local residents said that water level in the canal was high because of the huge discharge into it yesterday. This might have triggered the accident.

“Most of the time we prohibit outsiders from taking a bath in the canal. However, the incident took place in the afternoon when very few local villagers visit the area,” said Manas Behera, a resident of the area.

Assistant commissioner of police Nimai Charan Sethi said: “On hearing about the incident, we immediately sought the help of ODRAF and fire personnel. We also sought help from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to trace the missing students.”