Bhubaneswar, July 9 -- Two school students tragically drowned in a village pond at Bada Hindul under Bansajal Panchayat in the Rairakhol area of Sambalpur district on Thursday.

The deceased children have been identified as Siddhanta Munda and Kumar Munda.

According to reports, the two students went to school on Wednesday morning but did not return home. When the children did not come back, a search operation was launched by their anxious families and local residents. Their bodies were later discovered and recovered from a pond located near the village.

"We searched a lot but could not find them. My daughter went crying and called over a relative, saying that her brother had drowned. Later, they recovered his body and the other boy's as...