CHENNAI: Three teenage boys who went to bathe in the sea in the southern coastal Tuticorin district drowned after they were caught in strong waves, police said.

Expressing shock over the incident, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday announced a solatium of Rs 3 lakh each to the affected families.

The boys, aged 12 and 13, had gone to the sea at Siluvaipatti Mottai Gopuram beach in Mappillaiurani village in Tuticorin district, to bathe on Monday evening. However, they were caught in strong waves while bathing. Their bodies were later retrieved by the Tharuvaikulam Coastal Security Group, police said.

"I am deeply shocked and anguished to hear the tragic news that three children from Mappillaiurani village, unexpectedly drowned in the sea at around 4.15 pm yesterday while they were taking a bath in the sea," the chief minister said in a release here.

Conveying his deepest condolences and sympathies to the bereaved parents, Stalin informed that he had ordered the payment of Rs three lakh each to the parents of the deceased children from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund.