Three teenage boys who allegedly beat and forced a 15-year-old high school boy to swim across a river in Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, on Saturday night said they tried to rescue him when he disappeared underwater, according to investigators.
Police are still searching for the boy, who is believed to have drowned. They arrested the three male teens — a 16-year-old high school student, a 15-year-old described as a "company worker" who does not attend school and a 14-year-old junior high school student — on Sunday for assault.
"When he disappeared underwater, we went into the river to rescue him," one of the suspects was quoted by the police as saying.