COIMBATORE: Three college students drowned to death while bathing in the Cauvery river near Paramathivelur taluk in Namakkal.

Police said D Nandakumar, from Pappireddipatti in Dharmapuri, and Sheik Faizal Rahman from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh had gone to the house of their friend C Vinith Vimalraj near Paramathiveluron on Saturday.

The three are final-year engineering students at a private college in Kumarapalayam. “After having lunch, they went to take a bath in the river.

As they didn’t return even after 7 pm, Vinith's parents while searching found their slippers and phones on the bank,” Jedarpalayam police said. The bodies were taken out after a two-day search.