CHENNAI: A 13-year-old boy drowned while swimming with his friends in a lake near Uthiramerur on Thursday. The deceased, Nithish of Orikkai village near Uthiramerur in Kancheepuram, was studying in class eight at a government high school in the locality.

On Wednesday, Nithish and his friends, who have their quarterly leave now, went for swimming in the lake in Anumin Thandalam.

Noticing that Nithish was drowning in the water, his friends, who were in the lakebed, alerted the villagers. Soon, the locals jumped into the lake and tried to rescue Nithish, but their efforts went in vain.

Later on information, the Uthiramerur police along with the rescue team started searching for the boy. The body recovered from the lake Thursday afternoon and was sent it to Chengalpattu GH for post-mortem examination.