Four Indian medical students have drowned while swimming in a river in northwestern Russia, local law enforcement officials said Friday.
The incident happened on Tuesday in the Volkhov River in the city of Veliky Novgorod, the regional branch of Russia's Investigative Committee said.
"The students were swimming... in an area where swimming is banned," the law enforcement body said. "Two of them started being carried away by the current and two others jumped in to save them. After some time, all four went underwater."
The Indian consulate in nearby Saint Petersburg said a fifth student "was saved," adding that they were studying medicine at the university in Veliky Novgorod. It added that the students' families had been contacted and efforts were underway to repatriate their bodies "as soon as possible."
Russian investigators said Friday that two bodies had been recovered so far.
Veliky Novgorod, one of the oldest cities in Russia, is over 150 kilometers south of Saint Petersburg. The Volkhov River flows through the city on the way to vast Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia.
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