Rourkela: Three girls drowned while bathing in Sankh river under Raiboga police limits in Sundargarh district on Wednesday morning.According to police, Sibika Sahu (7), Gitika Sahu (6) and Shruti Kumari (9), all residents of Majhatoli village under Salangabahal panchayat, went to the river around 8.30 am along with their friend Pratap Sahu (9) to take a bath. While bathing, the girls reportedly slipped into deep water and went missing. Pratap raised an alarm, prompting villagers living nearby to rush to the spot. They pulled the girls out of the river and informed police.The children were first taken to Jambahal primary health centre. As no doctor was available there, they were shifted to Birmitrapur community health centre, where doctors declared them brought dead.Raiboga police reached the hospital and launched an investigation. The bodies have been sent for postmortem. “We have registered an unnatural death case and are investigating the circumstances leading to the incident. The bodies will be handed over to the families after the inquest and postmortem,” said Dibya Oram, inspector in charge of Raiboga police station.