Mangaluru: A 22-year-old final-year engineering student drowned in the Nethravati river on Tuesday evening while spending time with friends near Kallagundi in Kalmanja village of Belthangady taluk.

The deceased has been identified as Shripoorna, a native of Gokak and a student of an engineering college in Ujire.

According to sources, a group of eight students had gone to the river, where they were swimming and reportedly taking photographs. Shripoorna is suspected to have slipped into deep water and drowned.

Her friends immediately alerted local residents, who rushed to the spot and began rescue efforts.

Members of the Sri Dharmasthala Shaurya Disaster Management Team, along with personnel from the fire and emergency services and Dharmasthala police, carried out a search operation in the river for more than four hours before recovering her body around 9.30 pm.