The incident took place on Thursday evening on the outskirts of Khanpur village, a popular tourist spot during the summer season as people gather to take a dip in the waters of Mahisagar river that flows from there, Khambholaj police in Anand district said in a statement.

"Four members of a family from Gamdi village were among the tourists who came there to take a dip in the river. When one of them started drowning, three others ventured deep into the water to save that person. However, all of them eventually drowned in deep water," it said.

Though villagers rushed to the spot after learning about the incident, it was too late as they could only recover the bodies of the victims, the police said.

The bodies were then sent for post-mortem and a case of accidental death was registered, they said.

The deceased were identified as Suresh Vaghela, Prakash Vaghela, Vesuben Solanki and Jyoti Vaghela.

On June 2, two men from Anand town and Lambhvel village died in a similar manner at the same spot as they could not judge the depth of water, the police said.