14 students and 2 teachers perish in a Gujarati school incident when they are boating in a lake. Early examinations revealed that there were no life jackets on board and that the boat was significantly overloaded.
Twelve students and two teachers were among the at least 14 persons who perished when a picnicking school group’s boat capsized into Gujarat’s Harni Lake on Thursday night, according to local officials.
Thirteen children were recovered by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescuers as darkness set as they searched for survivors and bodies.
Senior government officials indicated that preliminary investigations revealed the boat was significantly overloaded and devoid of life jackets.
The event happened at approximately 5 p.m. while students from Vadodara’s New Sunrise School, which is located on Waghodia Road, were having a picnic. The kids belonged to classes one through six. The boat can accommodate a maximum of 14 passengers, but at the time of the tragedy, in addition to the four operators, more than 31 people were crowded onto it, according to local officials who wished to remain anonymous.
Videos shot soon after the event showed inflatable boat rescuers attempting to direct at least six divers as they searched for dead or survivors. The Vadodara, Gujarat authority redeveloped the lake for recreational use.
Since August 11, 1993, when an overloaded boat capsized in the Sursagar lake, which is likewise maintained by the Vadodara local authority, 22 people have died in the Vadodra, Gujarat’s deadliest boating tragedy.
Five people have been the subject of a first information report, or FIR, including the promoters of the business that owns the boats. A high-level investigation into the issue has also been started by the state government and will be led by the district magistrate of Vadodara. Within the next ten days, a thorough report must be submitted in this respect.
According to Anupam Singh Gahlaut, the commissioner of police in Vadodara, a company named Sri Kotiya Project, run by a man by the name of Paresh Shah, had the contract to operate the boat.
“We have filed charges against the boat’s owners and management under a number of sections, including Indian Penal Code section 304, which provides a penalty for culpable homicide that does not qualify as murder,” stated Gahlaut.
“So far, we have located the bodies of two teachers and twelve students. Search efforts are still being conducted by NDRF officials and other parties. The depth of the water is roughly 25 feet. The disaster occurred with the last group of pupils who had boarded the boat in groups. According to preliminary estimates, every student seemed to be present in the boat that sank, which contained 27 pupils, four instructors, and four operators, according to Gahlaut.
Gehlaut added that an inquiry has been opened into the incident, and that although their immediate attention was on the rescue operations, they will also look into the possibility of negligence on the part of the school administration.
The families of each person who died in the accident would get an ex-gratia payment of ₹2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, while the families of each person who was injured in the disaster will receive ₹50,000 each.
“Distressed by the loss of lives due to a boat capsizing at the Harni lake in Vadodara. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. May the injured recover soon. The local administration is providing all possible assistance to those affected,” PM Modi wrote on X.
Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel, who arrived at the site in the evening and was monitoring the rescue operation, said in a post on X that the state government will give a solatium of ₹4 lakh for the family of the deceased and ₹50,000 for the family of the injured. “At present, emergency relief-rescue and treatment operations are going on through the system. We all feel and pray that more and more lives can be saved,” he said.
Asma Mansuri, 39, whose seven-year-old son was part of the picnic group but on another boat, said that her son is in a state of shock and has been silent since his return. “He has seen his friends and schoolmates drown in front of his eyes. The school did not ensure that there are enough people on the boat who could swim to save the children, which appears to have been the main cause of the high death toll,” she said.
She accused the administration of the school of negligence. “I’m truly taken aback. How could school administrators be so irresponsible? Mansuri remarked, “I can only be thankful that my son is still alive.
She claimed that they were not notified of the accident by the school administration and that they only found out when the story broke on local news stations. As scheduled, on Thursday night, my son’s granddad went to pick him up after school and was informed that the children’s bus had not yet arrived back. “He said there were no kids at school and that the bus had not returned when he returned home by himself. Then, at approximately 5:30 p.m., I watched the news on TV regarding a boat capsize at the lake. It wasn’t until my brother-in-law arrived on the scene and saw that my son was okay that I felt some relief,” Mansuri remarked.
Another parent of a student who is still alive, Sohanlal Kahar, stated that he was awaiting a text message from the school to come pick up his son. He chose to go to the school after not receiving the SMS, whereupon he was instructed by the administration to pick up his child at Harni Lake. According to what my son informed us, the boat carried the kids on multiple excursions before capsized on the third one. This is all that my second-grader kid has told us thus far.
According to PTI, Gujarat Education Minister Kuber Dindor has launched an investigation after discovering that the boat was transporting more people than was authorized. Additionally, I’ve learned that at the time of the incident, pupils were not donning life jackets. Dindor declared, “We will take measures against those found guilty (of lapses).
