Three young Sikh men who drowned in the Lake District last year died accidentally, an inquest has ruled.
Harvinder Singh, 15, Satvir Singh, 17, and Tajinder Singh, 21, all from Wolverhampton, died in Ullswater in September 2006.
The three were paddling on a trip with a martial arts group in Cumbria when one of them slipped.
An inquest into their deaths was held in Kendal, in Cumbria, on Wednesday morning.
Coroner Ian Smith praised the actions of bystanders who stepped in and tried to save them.
The inquest heard that a total of 26 young men had been in the water at the time recreating a Sikh dipping ceremony.
Safety notices
Several others were pulled out unconscious from the lake.
Mr Smith said that without the intervention of the onlookers, more of the young men could have died.
A joint statement released by the families after the hearing said that it had been a tragic accident and they hoped other people would learn from what happened.
Mr Smith said that the stretch of water was a hazardous one, and ideally needed safety notices placed around it to warn people of hidden dangers.
However, he said as it was so large, at 20 miles (32.2km) long, it would be impractical.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7059880.stm
