At least 11 children and their adult instructor have died in a storm while boating on a lake in Russia.

Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the nation's main state investigative agency, said several boats with children overturned on Saturday in a storm in Syamozero, 120km east of the border with Finland.

In a televised statement on Sunday, he said that of 47 children and four adult instructors in the boats, 11 children and one adult drowned.

He said an instructor has been detained as part of an official probe, suspected of violating safety rules.

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