At least 10 children killed in Pakistan as boat capsizes

PESHAWAR (Reuters) -At least 10 children were killed on Sunday when a boat carrying religious school students capsized in northwest Pakistan, officials said.

Around eight students were still missing while seven injured had been taken to hospital, according to local officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the accident took place.

Kohat’s district commissioner Mahmood Aslam said around 50 students from a local religious school, had gathered near Tanda lake for a picnic. Twenty-five had ventured out on the water – which was closed by authorities for recreational trips – on a boat that capsized, he said.

The pupils who had died were aged between seven and 12 years old, according to a list shared with Reuters by the commissioner.

He said Pakistani military divers were helping with the rescue and recovery efforts. Video footage by local broadcasters and on social media showed rescuers in the water.

The accident came the same day as a bus accident in southern Pakistan that killed more than 40 people.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru and Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Robert Birsel, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Alison Williams)