Four men drowned while swimming in Jambuvanti river in Buldhana district of Maharashtra on Sunday, police said.
The incident occurred in Chikhli town around 4 pm, a Buldhana police official said.
"Total six youths in the age group of 18 to 20, all residents of Chikhli, had gone for a swim in the river. While four of them jumped into water, two others preferred not to venture in," he said.
"But the four youths failed to come out of water after some time. When their friends did not find them anywhere, they informed the locals, who alerted the police and a search operation was launched," the official said.
Bodies of the four deceased, identified as Syyed Rizwan Syed Firoz, Sheikh Sajid Sheikh Shafiq, Wasim Shah Irfan Shah and Sheikh Tawfiq Sheikh Rafiq, were later recovered from the river and handed over to their families after post-mortem.
Investigation into the case is underway, sub inspector of Chikhli police station, Sachin Chauhan, said.