KUALA LUMPUR — A picnic trip for seven sisters ended in tragedy yesterday when five of them aged between 8 and 19 drowned in a river, police said.

The bodies of Rusana Ruslin, 19, Rusalia, 16, Rusatirah, 14, Rusaliaza, 11, and Rusliana, 8, have been recovered from a river in northern Kedah state, police were quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

Police said the bodies were found huddled together and it was likely that some of them got into difficulty first when swimming at high tide, before the others tried to help.

Two other siblings, Rusana's twin sister Rusila, 19, and two-year-old Rusnajiha, survived the ordeal.

The girls' father, 49-year-old-businessman Ruslin Long, were among those who assisted a team of divers and the Fire and Rescue Department in the rescue operation. — AFP