Ghaziabad, Aug 31 - Birthday celebrations turned into a tragedy for a group of friends in this Uttar Pradesh district when three of them drowned while taking a swim in the fast flowing Ganga, police said Monday.

Police said Anvay Rawat, Hitesh Ramola, Viresh Kumar, Snehanshu Kumar Saturday went to celebrate birthday of Dhananjay Kumar in the Garh area here and decided to swim in the gushing water of the river.

Anvay, Hitesh and Snehanshu - in the age-group between 24 to 26 - drowned while Dhanajaya and Viresh survived the strong flow of the Ganga, police said.

'Their bodies were fished out Monday afternoon after a search operation of around 15 km area,' a police spokesman said. The three were residents of Shalimar Garden area.

Hitesh was a final year MCA student, Anvay had passed his MBA and was at present working with a private firm in Connaught Place, Delhi. Dhananjay and Viresh, who survived, work with a BPO firm in Noida.

'Their over confidence did them in. All of them had taken swimming classes some time back. We have given written information to police about the incident,' said Ajay Ramola, Hitesh's brother.