The death toll from a boating accident on a lake in northwest Pakistan over the weekend has reached 51, the army said on Tuesday. The wooden boat was carrying children and seminary teachers on a picnic.
Police said on Sunday that at least 10 students drowned after the large wooden boat they were traveling in capsized at the Tanda dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. They said at the time that the ship was carrying 25 people.
Later, however, authorities said the ship was overcrowded and was, in fact, carrying 57 people, mostly children, and that at least 51 had died. Qismat Khan, Kohat district area police chief, said authorities handed over the bodies of the victims for burial, but police were still investigating.
The army said in a statement that army divers and the local emergency service rescued five survivors. He said the search for the remaining person was continuing.
PAKISTAN VAN CRASH KILLS 20 WHILE FLOODS BREAK RECORDS IN CITY
The death toll in the boating accident in Pakistan has risen to 51. The casualties of indecents could have been avoided if the students wore life jackets.
(FoxNews)
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Khan said the casualties could have been prevented if the boat owner, who was also killed in the incident, had provided picnic-goers with life jackets. Khan said army divers and the local emergency service were searching for the boaters missing since Sunday’s accident.
Hundreds of relatives and relatives of the missing children and their teachers were waiting for news near the lake.
“Every time the divers returned with the bodies, we would hear the screams of the relatives of these children,” he said. Images and photos provided by the military showed divers on boats returning with at least three children who were rescued and later transported to a nearby hospital. They were among the five survivors and were listed in stable condition.
The body of the ship’s owner, Sajid Din, was found on Tuesday.
Such accidents are common in Pakistan, where rickety wooden boats are often used to transport goods and people on rivers and lakes. Most operate without life jackets.
