Baleshwar: The bodies of two Plus-Two students who reportedly drowned in Blue Lake near Mitrapur in Baleshwar district were recovered on Sunday after a nearly 24-hour search operation, police said.
The deceased were identified as Bhavishya Patra (16), a resident of Takatpur village under Baripada Town police limits in Mayurbhanj district, and Anshuman Patra (16), of Apartibindha village under Bhadrak Town police limits.
Both were Plus-Two commerce students at Fakir Mohan College in Baleshwar.
According to reports, the two students had visited the tourist spot on Saturday morning along with their friend Roshan Nayak. They were reportedly taking selfies when they fell into the deep waters of the lake. Roshan narrowly escaped the mishap.
Following the incident, police, fire services personnel, Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) personnel and a scuba-diving team launched a joint search operation to trace the missing students.
The search operation proved challenging due to the extreme depth of the lake and its rocky underwater terrain. Rescue personnel continued their efforts through the day and night to locate the students.
After nearly 24 hours of searching, scuba divers finally located the bodies and recovered them from the lake at around 12:30 pm on Sunday.
Nilagiri IIC Gobardhan Nayak confirmed that the bodies were recovered nearly 24 hours after the incident.
Police have registered an unnatural death case and launched an investigation into the incident. The bodies were sent for post-mortem examination and later handed over to the respective families.
