Eight pupils, all girls aged between 13 and 15, were drowned during playing by wading through a local river on Wednesday in Li Autonomous County of Changjiang on the western coast of Hainan Province.

Information given by Changjiang County Government said that on Wednesday afternoon, 22 sixth graders, 12 boys and 10 girls, from Class Three of the No.1 Wulie Primary School of Wulie Township sneaked out of the school to attend the funeral of a classmate's maternal grandpa and continue to play on a local river on their return trip.

When the boys were swimming downstream, the girls were playing upstream. The girls first waded through the river by clinging to each other hand in hand and reached the alluvion in the middle of the river.

The tragedy occurred around 4:40 p.m. when the girls took a new route in an attempt to walk back but were all swept away by the fast flow of the river water. Only two of the girls were rescued alive by fishermen working nearby.

Remains of the drown were all found by 5 p.m. on the same day.

The drowned girls were all buried early on Thursday.

Each household of the drowned has been given a compensation of 10,000 yuan (about 1,233 U.S. dollars).

A special group has been set up to investigate the cause of the tragedy and define the responsibilities concerned, according to the county government sources.