By IANS,
Chandigarh: Four children, who were on a one-day school trip to river Beas in Punjab, drowned Tuesday, police said.
The incident took place when Nidhi, a Class 10 student of Star Public School, lost her balance and fell into the river. Her three classmates tried to help her but they, too, were swept away in the current.
The Class 8, 9 and 10 students were on a picnic to river Beas near Naushera-Pattan village near Mukerian in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, 200 km from state capital Chandigarh, on the last working day of the school before summer vacations. The school is situated in Mukerian.
“There were around 30 students who went on this recreation trip. It was organised by the school authorities and the students were taken in their own private bus without taking any consent from the parents,” Dharambir Singh, deputy superintendent of police of Mukerian, told IANS.
Singh said a case has been registered against the school administration and three teachers are being questioned.
He said the bodies of Nidhi, Shilpa and Shehnaz have been recovered while efforts were on to trace that of Vikrant.
Shilpa’s father Tarsem Lal, who works in Indian Railways, told IANS: “It was a big shock for my family as we were not aware about any such trip. It is just due to the negligence of the school authorities that we have lost our daughter.”