Ten members of a single family were swept away in a river surge in Malaysia, with seven bodies found just under 25 kilometres from where they had been swimming, a senior police official said Tuesday.

The tragedy happened last Friday at the Jeram Mawar waterfall located deep in a forest in the district of Chukai in the eastern state of Terengganu.

Local police chief Hanyan Ramlan told AFP that nine of the victims were related and the other was a fiance.

“I believe they were swimming in the river on Friday when a sudden surge in water swept them away. It happened very fast and the water level rose to three metres,” Hanyan said.

“They were caught in a deadly surprise.”

Hanyan said the victims were aged between four and 40 years old, and the seven bodies were found about 24 kilometres (15 miles) from the scene of the accident.

“We have intensified the search for the remaining three victims. There are 210 officers from the various agencies assisted by tracker dogs covering 32 kilometres,” he said. (AFP)