The incident happened at Muttige village in Hassan district.

The deceased were identified as Jeevan (13), Satvik (11), Vishwa (12), and Prithwi.

According to the police, the boys, who were playing together during summer vacation, had gone to the lake to swim.

While swimming, they attempted to catch fish in a deep section of the water and drowned.

One of the boys had first started drowning, and the other three who tried to rescue him also found a watery grave.

Ten-year-old Chirag, after seeing his friends drowning, somehow managed to swim to safety and survived.

However, by the time people rushed to the lake, the four boys had already drowned.

The bodies of two boys have been retrieved while a search was underway to trace the other two.