Five students aged 14-16 years were electrocuted to death in a freak mishap on the terrace of a residential school building in Karnataka's Koppal town, police said on Sunday.

"The tragic incident occurred when the boys were removing a 15-feet iron pole mounted on a mud-filled drum used to hoist the national flag on the Independence Day (August 15) on the terrace. As the pole they were holding came into contact with an 11 kilovolt (kv) live electric wire over the hostel building, they got electrocuted and died of shock," Koppal Superintendent of Police Renuka Sukumar told IANS on phone.

Koppal is 350km northwest of Bengaluru in the southern state's backward region.

The ill-fated students were identified as Mallikarjun, Basavaraj, Devaraj, Ganesh and Kumar.

"A case of negligence has been registered against the state-run BCM Deveraj Urs King's residential school hostel warden, the one-floor building owner and an official of the state-run electricity utility provider (Gescom) under section 304A of the IPC (Indian Penal Code)," Sukumar said.

Expressing shock over the death of the teenage students, state Chief Minister B. Yediyurappa in Bengaluru ordered an inquiry into the mishap and directed the district deputy commissioner to give Rs 5 lakh compensation to each victim's bereaved family members.