By IANS,
Lucknow : At least 11 school children drowned and nine were rescued when a boat capsized Friday in Tons river in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district, the police said.
The accident took place near Gayaspur village around 1 p.m. Four school children and the boatman swam to the bank.
Fishermen and the police rescued nine children, who were stated to be out of danger. The bodies of the children who drowned were taken out of the river.
“The children were returning from school when the accident took place due to the strong current of the river. Eleven bodies have been fished out and the rest were rescued by our swimmers and local fishermen,” Vijay Garg, senior superintendent of police Azamgarh, told IANS by phone.
An amount of Rs.100,000 will be given to the family members of the dead school children by the administration.