Five male students, aged between 13 and 15, drowned in the Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district on Friday, officials said.
Two bodies have been recovered so far while search operations are on to trace the others, Mandal Revenue Officer Satish Kumar said.
Police officials said that the accident occurred in the afternoon when seven students went to the river for a bath in the river near Yenamalakuduru, but started to drown.
Two of the boys managed to swim to safety while the remaining children drowned. Local swimmers and fishermen were immediately pressed into rescue operations.
The victims, identified as Balu, Kamesh, Munna, Shaik Baji, and Hussain, hailed from Patamatalanka in Vijayawada, and were students of Classes 8 and 9 in a local government school, police said.