By Charlie Moore and Karen Ruiz For Daily Mail Australia
Published: 04:43 BST, 1 April 2019 | Updated: 04:44 BST, 1 April 2019
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Two Japanese schoolboys who drowned in a calm lake were on exchange at an Australian high school.
The 16-year-olds went missing on a private tour of Queensland's Fraser Island on Friday afternoon.
The group of 31 tourists was given free time to explore the area around Lake McKenzie - and staff noticed the boys were missing during a headcount afterwards.
After a frantic search, two bodies were found in the lake at about 8am on Saturday.
The 16-year-old Japanese nationals were found in the water at Lake McKenzie (pictured) on Queensland's idyllic Fraser Island about 8.20am on Saturday
The boys were with other students and staff from Japan's Kanagawa University High School on a private Sealink Travel tour.
They were in Australia on an exchange programme with Caloundra City Private School.
The school's principal Dirk Wellham told the Fraser Coast Chronicle: 'It's just unimaginable that this has occurred in a beautiful island paradise where they were there on holiday to enjoy.'
He said he has met the shattered boys' families after they flew to Brisbane.
'(The families) were in grief and shock and we spoke through a translator,' he said.
'They didn't have a lot to say because it's just such extreme sadness and just a great shock that came out of the blue. They wouldn't have even had time to process their grief yet.'
On Sunday Fraser Island's Mayor George Seymour expressed his shock at the tragedy saying the lake is a popular tourist