From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: They were riding on country boats braving flood water to their school to sit for the on-going examination, but the boats capsized taking lives of five of the school children.
The tragic incident occurred in flood-ravaged Morigaon district of Assam on Tuesday. Five school children including two girls were drowned when the country boats they were riding on in flood-affected Mayong area capsized amid swirling flood water.
Three school boys aged between 10 and 12 years of Burgaon High School met with a watery grave after a boat carrying 12 students capsized in a flooded water body at Burgaon Patekibori under Mayong police station at around 8.45 AM, they said.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Morigaon district, Rajkishore Handique informed that the children were goig to school by boats had to because the road leading to their school had been breached by the flood water of Brahmaputra River.
The official said the two boats capsized around the same time at two different locations about three kilometers apart.
One incident occurred at Pabhakhati in which two boys and one girl got drowned while one boy and a girl died in another boat capsize at Bhalukijhar.
Both the incident sites were under Mayong Police Station in the district.
The school children were riding those boats without being accompanied by any adults.
These boats belonged to two separate households. Life in the areas where the school children hail from,has been crippled by prolonged inundation by flood water.
With no roads remaing in shape for use because of the devastaing and recurring flood in this year, small country boats with capacity of arrying only four persons per boat are the only mode of transport for the people from those areas.
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 capsize were Sobikur Rahman and Akrum Begum.
The students were rowing the small country boats with their bare hands when their craft overturned. During the flood season, students use such small boats for going and coming from their schools in that area. (with inputs from PTI)
