New Delhi: In a tragic incident, ten children died when a boat capsized on Sunday in northwest Pakistan, as reported by the news agency AFP. The boat was carrying around 25 to 30 students on a daytrip from a local madrassa when it overturned. All of the dead children so far have been recovered from Tanda Dam lake, near Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
According to local police official Mir Rauf, the children, who died were between the age of seven and 14-years-old, AFP reported. Rauf said, 11 children were rescued from the water, with six in critical condition. "A rescue operation is underway," Rauf told AFP.
Mass drownings are common in Pakistan, when aged and overloaded vessels lose their stability and pitch passengers into the water. Many in the country do not know how to swim, particularly women who are discouraged from learning owing to conservative social mores. Their all-covering clothes also weigh them down once they become sodden. Women drowned when an overcrowded boat carrying a wedding party across the Indus river in Punjab province capsized on July 18.
In another incident, at least 41 people were killed after a passenger coach fell into a ravine in Pakistan's Balochistan on Sunday, Dawn reported citing officials. The incident occurred in the Lasbela district of Balochistan.
Lasbela Assistant Commissioner Hamza Anjum has confirmed the incident. Anjum stated that the vehicle carrying 48 passengers was travelling from Quetta to Karachi, as per the Dawn report. He said that the vehicle crashed into the pillar of a bridge near Lasbela and subsequently fell into a ravine and caught fire. Hamza Anjum feared that the number of casualties could rise to 48.
According to Hamza Anjum, three people, including a child and a woman have been rescued from the accident site, according to Dawn. One of the injured persons succumbed to his injuries while being taken to hospital.