RAYAGADA: In a tragic incident, two students drowned in the swollen Banshadhara river in the Gunpur area of Odisha's Rayagada district on Tuesday while they were talking a bath in the river.
The deceased have been identified as M Hemant Kumar (19) of Gunupur and his friend Dibya Pratap Behera (19) of Berhampur in Ganjam district. On Monday, Dibya and his friend Chinmaya Gouda of Chatrapur visited Gunupur to spend a day at Hemant's house.
All the three are students of Khallikote College in Berhampur.
When the three youths entered Banshadhara river on Tuesday morning to take bath, Hemant and Dibya were caught in the water current. Chinmaya raised an alarm and locals rushed to the spot to rescue them.
Subsequently, they rescued the unconscious youths from the river and were rushed to the sub-divisional hospital at Gunupur where doctors declared them brought dead.
The bodies have been sent for autopsy and a case has been registered.