10 children killed as boat capsizes during day tour

A boat that was carrying up to 30 children on a tour has capsized in front of shocked onlookers, with a devastating outcome.

The children were killed when their boat capsized. Picture: Ghulam Abbas Shah/Twitter

Ten children died when their boat capsized during a day tour on Sunday.

All of the dead so far recovered from Tanda Dam lake, near Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, were between seven and 14-years-old, according to local police official Mir Rauf.

Rauf said 11 children had been rescued from the water, with six in critical condition. The boat was carrying between 25 and 30 students on a daytrip from a local madrassa when it overturned.

Around 25 to 30 people of Madrasah drowned in Tanda Dam in Kohat. Rescue operation underway pic.twitter.com/nQFPzKhFtR

— Tribal News Network (@TNNEnglish) January 29, 2023

“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.

Ten children died. Picture: Ghulam Abbas Shah/Twitter

11 seminary students drown in Tanda Dam #APPNews#TandaDamhttps://t.co/ELH6Za1XvGpic.twitter.com/3UTzbPPefj

— APP 🇵🇰 (@appcsocialmedia) January 29, 2023

At least 10 madrassah students died on Sunday as a boat capsized in Kohat’s Tanda Dam.

For more: https://t.co/SXOnbkJjJk#etribune#news #kohat#Karachi #Pakistan

— News Journal (Save Life Foundation Inc.) (@newsjournalpak) January 29, 2023

Many in the country do not know how to swim, particularly women who are discouraged from learning owing to conservative social norms. Their all-covering clothes also weigh them down once they become sodden.

In July, 18 women drowned when an overcrowded boat carrying a wedding party across the Indus river in Punjab province capsized.

A water boat onboarding 25 Madrasa students capsized in Tanda Dam in Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The students belonged to the Madrasa Arabiya, a religious school in MÄ«rbash Khel area of Kohat. So far, 14 students died, 11 rescued, in which six are in critical condition. pic.twitter.com/OTEAG5XO6a

— Jawad Yousafzai (@JawadYousufxai) January 29, 2023

In a separate transport accident in western Pakistan on Sunday, a bus plunged off a bridge, killing 41. The bus crashed into a ravine in southwestern Balochistan province.

At the remote site north of the city of Bela in Lasbela district, senior administration official Hamza Anjum said “the dead bodies … are beyond recognition”.

Anjum said 40 corpses were retrieved from the wreck alongside three injured, one of which died shortly after. The remaining two survivors were in “serious” condition.

Residents look at the wreckage of a burnt passenger bus at Bela in Lasbela district of Pakistan's Balochistan province on January 29. Picture: Ismail Sasoli/AFP

The bus was reportedly carrying a total of 48 passengers when it hit a pillar on the bridge and careened off course earlier on Sunday.

It had been travelling overnight between Balochistan’s provincial capital of Quetta and the southern port city of Karachi.

“It is feared that the driver may have fallen asleep,” Anjum said, also mentioning the possibility he had been speeding during the long-distance trip.

At least 41 people died when the bus plunged off the bridge in southwestern Pakistan. Picture: Ismail Sasoli/AFP

“We will investigate the causes of the accident,” he said, adding that DNA tests would be used to determine the identity of the remains which had been “badly mutilated”.