Mandya, Aug 25: Three youths were drowned in the Hemavathi left bank canal in Bandhole village K R Pete taluk of this district, the police said today.

According to the police, the deceased identified as Manju (20), Ravi (27) and Ravindra (22) went swimming on Tuesday along with 5 other people. However, due to unknown reasons Manju, Ravi and Ravindra drowned in the canal water while the other five managed to swim to safety.

As soon as the incident was reported, the policy deployed its search party to fish out the bodies on late Tuesday, but, the search operation was suspended due to the dark night.

The search operation again began on Wednesday morning and the bodies of three people were retrieved and handed over to the family.

A case has been registered in K R Pete Rural Police Station and further probe is on, the police added.(UNI)