Ten family members including four children all drown when their vehicle plunges into a lake in Brazil
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Ten members of the same family including four children have drowned after their car came off the road and plunged into a lake in Brazil.
The tragedy happened in the early hours of yesterday morning in Barra Mansa, a municipality located in the southern part of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The victims were four women, two men, a baby, two boys and a girl.
A witness who was passing by the lake called the emergency services at dawn after seeing the upturned vehicle in the water but there was nothing emergency responders could do to save the lives of those inside.
It was not immediately clear this morning how long the ten people who died had been underwater.
Specialist divers were mobilised as part of the emergency response operation to recover the bodies.
Although none of the victims have yet been named, they are said to belong to the same family and come from the municipality of Volta Redonda which borders Barra Mansa.
A police investigation into the horror tragedy was ongoing today and cops have confirmed all died from drowning.
One local report described the victims as a couple and their children along with grandchildren and a niece.
A son of the unnamed couple is said to have started fundraising for their funerals.
Ten members of the same family including four children have drowned after their car came off the road and plunged into a lake
Distressing pictures from the accident scene showed the upturned vehicle with just its wheels and part of its underside above the waterline.
It is not yet clear how the vehicle ended up in the lake.
In May, 16 members of the same family were killed in a road crash in Brazil.
The victims were coming back from a birthday party in a van hit head-on by a truck whose driver was put under police guard in hospital.
The tragedy happened just after 4.30pm local time on May 31 on the BR-116 road in Santa Terezinha in the north-east state of Bahia.
Van driver Manuel Oliveira dos Santos, 52, died alongside his 47-year-old wife Jirlene Ribeiro de Oliveira Santos, and their 24-year-old daughter Caroline Oliveira dos Santos.
Other victims of the crash were named as Nicole Guimaraes de Castro, 37; her nine-year-old daughter Maria Rita Guimaraes Estevao dos Santos; and Nicole's mother-in-law Barbara Maria Estevao dos Santos.
A regional TV station described the 16 people killed as members of the same family and said they were returning to the state capital Salvador after spending the weekend in Amargosa a near-four-hour drive inland where they had been celebrating a birthday.
Another four people were injured in the accident, including the 25-year-old truck driver who was said at the time to be facing manslaughter charges.
Police said they believed he crossed into the opposite lane before the head-on crash and his vehicle had a faulty tachograph which made it impossible to verify his driving time and speed.
Bahia's governor Jeronimo Rodrigues decreed three days of mourning.
He said on social media after the tragedy: 'I received with sadness the news of the accident that occurred on the BR-116.
'We are monitoring the situation and providing all necessary support to the victims and their families at this time. May God comfort the hearts of all.'
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