A boat holding around twenty-four people—despite its intended capacity of sixteen—capsized in a lake in India recently, killing several children and teachers, according to authorities.
Reports reveal the incident occurred at a private school picnic at Harni Lake in Vadodara in the late afternoon.
The newspaper was informed by a local hospital that two 45-year-old instructors and three 15-year-old students perished when the boat flipped.
The students and their instructors hopped aboard the boat at the lake zone at about 4:30 p.m., according to local government official Sheetal Mistry, who spoke with the media.
The bulk of the passengers did not have life jackets, according to federal minister Harsh Sanghvi, who said that only 10 of the pupils on board were using one.
Several parents had congregated around the lake when the media appeared at the accident scene. Many of them wondered why the children hadn’t been given proper safety equipment before boarding the boat.
As reported by Indian media outlets, a rescue mission was initiated after the boat went down, and some were able to save children before emergency personnel arrived.
According to the news outlet, the boat had 27 passengers, including 23 students and four educators.
The Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel, expressed his condolences for the loss of innocent kids in a post on X. He hoped and prayed that more lives could be saved.
About eighty pupils from New Sunrise School reportedly went on the picnic; some rode the boat, while others participated in games.
As reported by an official, the boat started to lean due to a balancing problem and eventually capsized.
Overcrowding, poor maintenance, and a lack of safety gear make boat accidents frequent in India.
A boat went down in the southern Indian state of Kerala in 2023, killing 22 persons.
