A husband, his wife, three children and brother and sister-in-law all drowned in the unimaginable tragedy
A family of seven - including a husband, his wife, their three children and his brother and sister-in-law - have died in a tragic accident.
Six of the family members formed a human chain to try and save the seventh, a teenage girl, from drowning but in the process they all ended up drowning themselves.
The deaths happened when the entire family had gone to a grave at a cemetery in Jinzao Town in Chaoyang district in the city of Shantou, in southern China’s Guangdong province.
One of the children - 17-year-old Wu Sung - had decided to go down to the nearby reservoir to wash her hands, but had then fell in.
None of her family could swim, so they tried to rescue her by forming the chain that resulted in all of them falling into the water and drowning.
By the time rescue workers arrived they could only pull the lifeless bodies from the reservoir.
Rescue worker Shing Tan said: "It appears none of them could swim but they were determined to try and rescue the young girl.
"We had a call from villagers who spotted the tragedy from the other bank but who were unable to help as the family had vanished into the water by the time they got there.
"Medics who later arrived at the scene could only confirm the deaths of all those involved.
"In the end the teenage girl and her two younger siblings, a boy aged 15 and a girl of 13, as well as her parents and aunt and uncle all died."
Officials responsible for the area where the reservoir is located pledged a full enquiry into the tragic incident to see what could be done to prevent something similar happening again.
The family had been visiting the grave near the reservoir as part of Tomb-Sweeping Day, which is a traditional festival in China where the living are expected to pay their respects to their ancestors by visiting their tombs.
Credit: Dailymirror
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