Three schoolboys drowned in the Punarbhaba River at Bangibecha ghat in the district town yesterday. The deceased were Kalu Mia, 14, a class IX student of Dinajpur Police Lines High School and son of Iqbal Ahmed, SM Sirajuddin Nayan, 14, a class IX student of Dinajpur High School and Raaj, 16, a student of Dinajpur High School and son of Sahabuddin, all were residents of Ghasipara in the town. Kalu and Raaj were cousins by relations. Witnesses said they drowned in the river while taking bath at around 11.00am. Local people found their bicycles, cloths and mobile phone sets on the riverbank. Immediately they infor­med the matter to fire service and civil defence authorities. On information, a team of fire service from Rangpur rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies after four hours of frantic efforts around 4 pm. AKM Khalequzzaman, officer-in-charge of sadar police station, confirmed it.