PATNA (India), Oct 14 — Rescuers dragged out 13 dead children from India’s Ganges river after an overloaded boat capsized en route to a Hindu festival, officials said today, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing grief over the “deeply painful” tragedy.
The boat overturned late yesterday in Vaishali district in north-eastern Bihar state, with locals rushing to pull people out of the water in the dark using mobile phones to find the bodies.
“It was dark when we suddenly heard children screaming and crying for help as the boat capsized,” Ravi Yadav, a young villager who joined the rescue effort, told AFP.
“We managed to rescue only three children, using the light from mobile phones and torches, because it was dark.”
