Around 50 students from Bhadrak district along with teachers and some of them with parents had gone for picnic near Tara Tarini temple, said B K Sahu Inspector-in-charge of Purushottampur police station.
The students were bathing in the Rushikulya river after visiting Tara Tarini temple when three of them, Soumya Sampad Moharana, Sai Saswata Behera and Pankaj Sahu drowned, he said.
Their bodies were later fished out by fire brigade personnel, the police official said.