2 Aug 2008, 0415 hrs IST
LUCKNOW/VARANASI: Eleven children drowned when the boat carrying around 21 school students capsized in Azamgarh on Friday.
Azamgarh district authorities handed out cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to the kin of deceased, whose bodies were fished out of river.
District Magistrate (DM), Azamgarh, Mayur Maheshwari said that the incident took place near Gyaspur village in Sandhara police circle. A boat ferrying 27 persons, including 21 school children, across Silni, capsized in the afternoon.
"While six managed to swim to safety, another 10 were fished out in an unconscious state by the rescue teams and admitted to the district hospital," Maheshwari said adding that 11 bodies of students had been recovered from the river when the rescue operation was called off due to bad light on Friday.
Most of the victims were students of class 4, 5 and 6 at Durga Inter College in Kandhrapur area and were returning home when the incident took place. Though the school had an approach road, students preferred to ferry across the river as it was a short-cut, Maheshwari said.
According to local villagers, the boat was overloaded and ferrying it across the swift current of the swelling river was a dangerous preposition. In utter disregard to safety, the boatman took 27 passengers in the boat that had a sitting capacity of 15.
"The rescued students are completely out of danger but we have kept them under observation as they are in a state of shock," SSP, Azamgarh, Vijay Garg said.
LUCKNOW/VARANASI: Eleven children drowned when the boat carrying around 21 school students capsized in Azamgarh on Friday.
Azamgarh district authorities handed out cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to the kin of deceased, whose bodies were fished out of river.
District Magistrate (DM), Azamgarh, Mayur Maheshwari said that the incident took place near Gyaspur village in Sandhara police circle. A boat ferrying 27 persons, including 21 school children, across Silni, capsized in the afternoon.
"While six managed to swim to safety, another 10 were fished out in an unconscious state by the rescue teams and admitted to the district hospital," Maheshwari said adding that 11 bodies of students had been recovered from the river when the rescue operation was called off due to bad light on Friday.
Most of the victims were students of class 4, 5 and 6 at Durga Inter College in Kandhrapur area and were returning home when the incident took place. Though the school had an approach road, students preferred to ferry across the river as it was a short-cut, Maheshwari said.
According to local villagers, the boat was overloaded and ferrying it across the swift current of the swelling river was a dangerous preposition. In utter disregard to safety, the boatman took 27 passengers in the boat that had a sitting capacity of 15.
"The rescued students are completely out of danger but we have kept them under observation as they are in a state of shock," SSP, Azamgarh, Vijay Garg said.
No comments:
Post a Comment