JAGATSINGHPUR: Two students drowned and one went missing while taking bath in Paika river under Krishnanandapur police limits here on Wednesday morning.
Police said bodies of Aman Kumar Mallick (15) and Sisir Kumar Behera (15), both of Itatikiri village, have been recovered from the river. Saurav Behera (18), also of Itatikiri, is still missing and feared drowned. While Aman and Sisir were Class X students of Krishnanandapur high school, Saurav was pursuing an ITI course at a private institute in Cuttack.
Sources said on their way to school, the trio went to take bath in the river. Aman reportedly slipped and was carried away by the current. Sisir and Saurav jumped in to rescue him but were also swept away.
When the boys did not return home, their family members began searching for them and found their slippers on the riverbank. Villagers then alerted the local police.
On being informed, firefighters from Raghunathpur and Tirtol rushed to the spot and launched an extensive search operation. Later, bodies of Sisir and Aman were recovered.
Fire officer Biswaranjan Baske said, “Fire personnel from Raghunathpur and Tirtol have been engaged since morning, but we are yet to locate Saurav. Search operation is still underway to trace the boy.”
Raghunathpur police seized the bodies for postmortem. An unnatural death case has been registered and further investigation is underway, said police.