Five young students, including two boys and three girls aged between seven and eleven, drowned while swimming in a river in east China's Zhejiang Province, local officials confirmed on Wednesday.

The first victim was spotted by a fisherman in the Jinyun County of Zhejiang at 3:30 PM Tuesday. While the man called police immediately, some passersby dove into the water to attempt a rescue but the child was already dead.

More than 20 policemen responded to the call and they soon realized there were other victims when they found children's clothes on the banks up the river. Two and a half hours later they retrieved another four bodies.

All the pupils were from the Huzhen Primary School of the Jinyun County, who were on summer holiday.

The local educational bureau has warned students not to swim without company of adults in rivers or reservoirs where visitors are rare.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2006)