ALBAWABA - 15 people have been reported missing after a boat capsized off Indian Kashmir after a boat ferrying them across a swollen river capsized.
UPDATE
A woman and five children were killed when a boat carrying them across a high river capsized in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday, according to officials.
Rescuers in rubber boats, assisted by marine commandos and divers, were looking for three additional people believed to be on board. Residents say the remaining missing were children on their way to class when the boat capsized in the Jhelum River in Srinagar.
"Six died in the accident, another six were rescued and three are still missing," Srinagar district magistrate Bilal Mohi-ud-Din Bhat told AFP.
Among the missing were several children taking the boat on their way to school when the boat overturned in the Jhelum River in the city of Srinagar.
"Around 15 people, several children among them, are missing after the accident," a senior official in Kashmir told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The river had risen following days of heavy rainfall in the Himalayan Kashmir valley. Witnesses reported that a rope used to lead the boat over snapped under the force of the fast-flowing water.
"Our rescue teams are there. We are gathering information about the incident," Srinagar district magistrate Bilal Mohi-ud-Din Bhat told AFP.
Many office workers and students ride a boat across the river in the morning to avoid traffic. Accidents are common on the dangerous roads of the hilly region, but passenger boat catastrophes rarely happen.
