5 drowned in Xinjiang after celebratory drinking

URUMQI - Five men aged around 20 drowned in China's far western Xinjiang region on Saturday after they drank with three others for a whole night to celebrate one of them receiving an offer from a police college.

The incident occurred at about 7:30 am in the city of Bole in the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bortala as one of the eight men fell into a reservoir while climbing the surrounding guardrails and five others jumped into the water to rescue him, the prefecture's publicity department said in a statement.

Only one of the rescuers managed to return safely to the reservoir bank and the others all drowned, according to the statement.

It explained that the eight drank overnight till 6:30 am to celebrate one of their number winning enrollment to a police college. They then decided to watch the sunrise at a reservoir three km southwest of urban Bole city.

Firefighters received a call reporting the drowning at about 7:33 am and they arrived at the scene 10 minutes later, but it was too late and all the five were already drowned.

The rescuers pulled all their bodies out of the water an hour later and sent them to a funeral parlor.

The reservoir has enclosures and warning signs and is it is forbidden to enter the facility without permission. In a bid to prevent drowning incidents, it also has life buoys on the banks.