Bodies of the five NCC cadets who drowned in Periyar river in Kerala were brought here today and sent to their native places even as a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for the families was announced.

Defence Minister A K Antony received the bodies of the cadets with their families at the Palam Technical Area here this afternoon in an emotionally charged atmosphere. They were flown from Kochi earlier today by an IAF aircraft.

The governments of Delhi and Kerala announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh each respectively for all the five families.

The Defence Minister had yesterday announced a relief of Rs 3.5 lakh each for the next of the kin of the deceased, according to Defence Ministry officials said here.

The bodies of the cadets have been sent to their respective native places. One cadet was from Haryana while two each were from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

Antony met the families of the cadets along with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy. He also talked to the cadets who accompanied the bodies from Kerala.

The students were part of the National Trekking Camp of National Cadets Corps (NCC) at Malayatoor, about 52 km from Kochi when tragedy struck them yesterday. While two boys first slipped into the waters of Periyar river as they were clicking photos of the picturesque spot, the three others jumped to help them.

They were Hemant Kumar (15), a school student from Haryana, Mohammed Zeeshan, Sabeesh Baqri and Dilshad Alam, all of them 18 and students of the Jamia Milia Polytechnic here, and Gulvez Ahamed (18), a student of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College here.

Meanwhile, a four-member Board of Inquiry team today began its probe into the death of five cadets.

NCC sources told PTI in Kochi, "The team from Karnataka is in Kochi and the probe is on."

About 700-odd NCC cadets from across the country have congregated for the 8-day national level trekking camp which began on December 23.