KOCHI (India), Feb 20: At least 20 children drowned in a boating accident at a southern Indian wildlife park lake on Tuesday, officials and media reports said.

“A total of 22 people drowned when their wooden rowboats sank and among those killed were four teachers,” Mohammed Haneesh, a local administrator, told AFP.

The final toll was uncertain.

The accident happened at a lake at the Thattekade Wildlife Sanctuary 55 kilometres (34 miles) east of the port city of Kochi at the state's most popular state-run wildlife park which draws thousands of visitors every year.

Indian naval divers from the nearby naval base at Kochi were rushed to the site to help in rescue and recovery efforts, an Indian navy spokesman in New Delhi told AFP.

Fire department and forest rangers also rushed to the accident site to try and help, witnesses said.

A total of 103 children from a nearby school were on three boats on the lake when the accident occurred, they said.

Press Trust of India said the death toll was 23, most of them children, and said the boat that capsized carried about 50 students and staff from a nearby school.—AFP