A student drowned while another was rescued in a critical condition after both were swept away by strong sea current near the Nehru Bungalow here on Wednesday.
Sources said nearly 40 students of the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Gothapatna on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar had come here on a picnic when the two students went to take bath near the Mahanadi river mouth, close to the Nehru Bungalow.
Eyewitness accounts said the students, identified as Himanshu Rathore and Srinath Ghose of Bhopal, were dragged into the deep sea by a huge tide. While locals rescued Ghose, Rathore went missing for several hours.