8 China schoolgirls drown on tropical island

Beijing, June 8: Eight Chinese teenage schoolgirls drowned in a fast-flowing river where they were playing after attending a funeral on the southern tropical island of Hainan, state media said today.

Ten girls and 12 boys had taken the day off school yesterday to attend the funeral of a friend's grandfather in the town of Wulie, on the west of the island, and waded deep into the river afterwards, Xinhua news agency said.

''The 10 girls were wading hand in hand from a tiny island in the middle of the river back to the bank, but the deep and rapid water rushed them away,'' it said.

Two fishermen heard their screams and managed to save two of the girls, but the eight were dead by the time their classmates, playing downstream, and villagers arrived 20 minutes later, Xinhua said.

The children, aged between 13 and 15, were supposed to be at school at the time and had attended the funeral and played in the river without permission from their teachers, Xinhua said.

Reuters