Four middle school students drowned on Wednesday afternoon in Wanquan County of north China's Hebei Province, local authorities confirmed on Thursday.

Three of the students went missing as they were playing in a river in Wanquan. A fourth student also went missing after entering the river to try to find his schoolmates, according to the county government.

Forty rescuers and local members of the public participated in searching for the four missing students, whose bodies were later salvaged from the water.

All of them were confirmed dead after medical treatment failed.