Police are searching for three suspects after two students from Perth’s Curtin University were shot while on holiday in New Orleans in the United States, in what local police reportedly called a drug deal gone wrong.

The two men, Toben Clements, 21, and Jake Rovacsek, 23, were in the US as part of the WA School of Mines Wombats team, which took part in the Intercollegiate Mining Games.

Curtin vice-chancellor Deborah Terry confirmed the pair were in hospital in a stable condition and recovering, after one man was shot in the stomach and the other man in the chest.

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At the end of the games the students travelled to New Orleans as part of a private holiday.

New Orleans police said the pair had been drinking at Bourbon Street bar, The Swamp, when they attempted to buy drugs at about 4.15am local time on Tuesday.

They approached “an unknown black male”, asked about purchasing drugs from him and then left the bar and followed the man to a four-door, dark-coloured sedan where a driver was waiting inside.

Police said he then drove them across the Mississippi River to Algiers.

“The driver took the two victims toward Algiers and along the way, he told them that it would cost several hundred dollars to purchase drugs,” police said in a statement.

“The victims told the driver they did not have the money available.

“When they arrived at LB Landry Avenue and Shepard Street, the pair said they exited the vehicle and were approached by another unknown male who demanded their money.

“When they told him they didn’t have it, the unknown male shot them both and then jumped in the vehicle with the unknown driver and fled the scene.”

Detectives have called on locals to help identify the three suspects involved in the incident.

New Orleans police spokesman Dave Badie said detectives were also seeking surveillance footage to help with the investigation.

“We are trying to get surveillance video, but we don’t have anything like that,” Mr Badie said.

Professor Terry said both students’ families had been contacted and were arranging to travel to the US, where support would be offered by School of Mines director Sam Spearing.

“Support is also being provided to the others in the group who were not in the vicinity of the shooting and are unharmed,” she said.

“This is a very distressing situation and our thoughts are with the injured students and their families.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is providing consular assistance to the two Australian students and their families.

In 2014, Australian woman Amy Matthews was shot in the face in the Bourbon Street area after she reportedly became caught in the crossfire of a gunfight.

– with reporting by Kaitlin Thals, AAP, ABC