Beijing, Jun 22 (PTI) Eight primary school children in southwest China have drowned after one fell into a river and others jumped in to save their friend, authorities said on Monday.

The incident happened in China's Chongqing Municipality.

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According to the district publicity department, the students fell into the river in the village of Tongjia in Tongnan District at around 3:30 pm on Sunday.

Initial investigations revealed that the victims were students of a local primary school. They were playing by the river when one of them fell into the water. The rest of the students jumped in an attempt to save the victim, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

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The bodies have been retrieved by the rescuers, the report said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)