Vijayawada, June 24 (IANS): Bodies of three out of four engineering students from Andhra Pradesh who were drowned in Krishna river near here on Saturday, were fished out on Sunday, police said.

The rescue workers found the bodies of three students while the search was still on for the fourth. The bodies of Praveen, 18, Chaitanya, 18, and Srinath, 19, were shifted to a government hospital in Vijayawada for autopsy.

Police said the rescue workers were still searching for Rajkumar, 19. The incident occurred at Pavitra Sangamam, the confluence points of Krishna and Godavari rivers at Ibrahimpatnam.

Five students of second year of a private engineering college had gone there for picnic. When one of them was drowning while taking a bath, three others tried to save him but all of them were washed away in strong currents. The fifth student alerted the police.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and divers joined the rescue operations. The rescue work was called off on late on Saturday and resumed early Sunday.

Police said one of the students crossed the safety railing, which led to the tragedy.