The bodies of three men, who went missing after their boat capsized in a small lake at a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district, have been retrieved, police said on Friday.

The incident took place in Sonwani Tekad at around 4 pm on Thursday.

The body of one of them, Dipankar Bisen, was fished out on late Thursday night, while those of the other deceased, identified as Ashwini Bramhe and Pankaj Patle, were located and retrieved from the 18-feet lake on Friday morning, they said.

All the deceased were in the 25 to 30 age group, said inspector Surendra Gadaria of Lalbarra police station.

A team of local divers, personnel from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) fished out the bodies, he said.

After the boat capsized, two occupants, identified only as Yogesh and Kamlesh, swam to safety, but since they were in a state of shock, they were admitted to a hospital, the police officer said.

Ashwini Bramhe, a local resident, and his friends had travelled to the jungles around Sonwani Tekad in a car to spot a tiger on Thursday. After failing to spot the big cat, they decided to take a boat ride which ended in a tragedy, he added.