A school trip in Karnataka's Kalaburagi district to the Belkota dam for a Vijayapura district-based school turned tragic on Tuesday, after three students drowned while taking a dip in a stream nearby. 

News agency ANI reported that the three boys were students of the Satyasai Premniketan Residential School of Vijayapura district in northern Karnataka. The Satyasai Premniketan Residential School is set up in Anjutagi in Indi taluk.

The Hindu reported that they drowned while taking a dip in the Gandori Nala waters in the vicinity of the dam. The stream is around 35 km from the district headquarters. 

The deceased have been identified as Manjunath C Yadav (15), a resident of Indi taluk, Shubham S Hosur (15), of Vijayapura; and Laxman B Donnur (14), a resident of Devara Hipparagi, according to the police. While Manjunath and Shubham were studying in Class 9, Laxman was in the eighth standard, the police further said.

ANI reported a total of 96 students and four teachers were touring the district for a school excursion. They had arrived in the district for the school tour on December 25. 

Mahagon police have registered a case and they are probing the incident further. The bodies have been sent for a post-mortem report.

This tragedy follows two similar deaths in the district earlier this month. Two shepherds had died as they had gone to graze their sheep near the Kagini river on December 11 in Arebommanahalli village of Sedam taluk.

At the time police had identified the deceased as Yellappa (16) and Narveer (20), both residents of the same village. They had gone for a swim in the river and the police suspected they drowned as there was a sudden increase in the river current.

While farmers nearby tried to rescue the shepherds, their efforts went in vain, the police had said. Following that the police were called in after they failed to retrieve their bodies.