Vadodara/IBNS: At least twelve students and two teachers drowned after a boat overturned in a lake on the outskirts of Vadodara city in Gujarat on Thursday, reports said.

The students, belonging to the New Sunrise School, were on a picnic when the tragedy occurred at Harni Lake in the afternoon. The picnic was organised by the school authorities.

Reacting to the tragedy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "Distressed by the loss of lives to a boat capsizing at the Harni lake in Vadodara. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. May the injured recover soon."

"The local administration is providing all possible assistance to those affected. An ex-gratia of ₹ 2 lakh each from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given ₹ 50,000," he wrote.

According to reports, 27 persons were on board, comprising 23 students and four teachers, which was much more than the boat's capacity.

Also, there were no life jackets on the boat.

National Disaster Response Force officials said four persons are still missing and the search and rescue operation at the site is underway.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel is at the accident site and monitoring the rescue operation being carried out by personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and other agencies.