Morigaon: At least five school students, including two girls, drowned and another was missing in two separate boat capsises this morning in central Assam’s Morigaon district, while 12 others were either rescued or swam to safety, police said.
Three school boys aged between 10 and 12 years of Burgaon High School met with a watery grave after a boat carrying 12 students capsised in a flooded water body at Burgaon Patekibori under Mayong police station at around 8.45am, they said.
Flood havoc. Reuters
In a similar incident at Bholokaguri under the same police station, two school students of the same age group, including a girl drowned, while another was still missing.
The boat carrying six students of Bholokaguri ME School capsised at around 8am, the sources said, adding, three other students, however, swam to safety.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), police, along with local people have swung into action to rescue the students. Five bodies have been fished out and a search operation has been launched for the missing student, they said.
The victims of the first incident were identified as Sheikh Farib, Nurjamal Sarkar and girl student Samsur Nehar, while the two in the other capsise were Sobikur Rahman and Akrum Begum.
The students were rowing the small country boats with their bare hands when their craft overturned causing all of them to fall into the flooded water bodies, the sources said.
During the flood season, students use such small boats for going and coming from their schools in that area.
PTI
