Tragedy in the Gomel region: five people drowned on the Lake Belaye

Two adults and three children died in a boating accident on Lake Belaye in the Homyel region on July 14.

The five were among nine people aboard a motor boat when it capsized, Ruslan Habrylyow, spokesman for the Homyel regional office of the emergency management ministry told. The drowned children were boys aged four, five and seven.

The other boat occupants, including the 40-year-old owner who was drunk at the time of the accident, managed to swim to safety.

None of the boat occupants was wearing a lifejacket when the accident happened.

One of the bodies was discovered immediately after the accident. Divers were involved in the search for the other bodies on Sunday afternoon.

Criminal proceedings were instituted against the owner of the boat, a sole entrepreneur who had offered boat rides on the lake.