Forty-nine children died when their overloaded boat capsized in north-west Pakistan, police have said, after divers spent three days dragging bodies from freezing waters. The boys, aged between seven and 14, were all students of a madrassa and had been taken for a day trip to the scenic Tanda Dam lake on Sunday.
“The water of the dam was freezing due to cold weather that impeded the rescue mission. But today the divers were able to dive deep to recover the remaining bodies,” Khateer Ahmad, a senior official at the emergency service Rescue 1122, said on Tuesday.
Drownings are common in Pakistan, when aged and overloaded vessels lose their stability and pitch passengers into the water. On the same day, at least 41 people were confirmed dead after their bus crashed into a ravine in south-western Balochistan province.
In July last year, at least 18 women drowned after an overloaded boat carrying about 100 members of the same family capsized during a marriage procession between two villages.
