In a tragic incident on a lake in Malappuram district, a country boat capsized, drowning six children of a family. The children had taken out a country boat belonging to the family to go see a bund that had breached nearby.

The children who had come for a holiday were all aged between 4 and 20. There were nine people on the boat. The boatman named Velayudhan and two others were rushed to hospital - Velayudhan has been admitted to Thrissur medical college, while the two children are at a hospital in Malappuram. The three are reportedly in a critical condition.

In the accident that happened around 5: 30 in the evening, four girls and two boys have lost their lives. Their names are Prasenna (13), Vaishna (20), Jenisha (11), Pooja (13), Adhinadh (14) and Adhidev (8).

The children, all belonging to the Mapadikkal family, had ventured out in the boat around 4.00 pm. They were in an isolated spot when the accident occured and therefore rescue teams could not reach in time.

"There were in total 9 people in the boat, of which eight were aged below 20. The boat man is aged 55 and his name is Velayudhan. He is a relative of the children. He took the children to the river for a leisure trip. The boat was owned by him. It is used by family members only," the Changarakulangara police said.

The locals in the area jumped into the lake as soon as they saw that the boat had capsized and were able to rescue two children.

This is a developing story