India festival boat capsize kills 13 children

Rescuers dragged out 13 dead children from India’s Ganges river after an overloaded boat capsized en route to a Hindu festival, officials said Wednesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing grief over the “deeply painful” tragedy. The boat overturned late Tuesday in Vaishali district in eastern Bihar state, with locals rushing to pull people out of the water in the dark using mobile phones to find the bodies. “It was dark when we suddenly heard children screaming and crying for help as the boat capsized,” Ravi Yadav, a young villager who joined the rescue effort, told AFP.

“We managed to rescue only three children, using the light from mobile phones and torches, because it was dark. ” Villager Ramlakhan Rai said the boat was “small” and “not in good condition”, saying people were crammed onto a vessel suitable for just a handful. “It is devastating — a few families have lost all their children,” he said. Six people were pulled out alive, including two children reported to be in critical condition. Medic Nirmal Kumar, from the local health centre, said four children and two adults were sent to the district hospital. “We tried our best to revive them……