The youth drowned in Amaravathi river in Dharapuram area of the district, they said.

A group of eight youngsters from Iduvai in Tirupur district had gone to a temple in Mamparai in Dindigul district and were returning home when they stopped by to bathe in the river, police said.

While six people died, two others were rescued by locals with the help of fire and rescue service personnel, police said.

The deceased have been identified as Mohan, Ranjit, Sreedhar, Chakravarmani, Ameer and Yuvan, while the two injured youths are being treated in a nearby hospital. Five of the dead were school students while the sixth one was studying in a college.