GUANGZHOU - Five second-year students from a middle school in south China's Guangdong Province drowned on Saturday morning in what looks like a failed rescue attempt, local authorities confirmed Sunday.

Eight students from Luoyang No. 1 Middle School of Boluo County, Huizhou City, were organizing a barbecue by Dongjiang River, when one of them accidentally fell into the river, according a Huizhou police statement.

Four other students linking hands attempted to reach the drowning pupil, but fell into water too. All five went missing.

The three remaining students on the bank reported the case to the police, and a rescue team rushed to the scene.

By 10 p.m., the bodies of all five students had been retrieved.

A further investigation into the accident is underway.