Srinagar boat tragedy: Body of second missing boy found, toll mounts to eight

Srinagar, April 27

The body of second missing minor boy, Farhan Parray, who drowned after a boat capsized in Jhelum river in Gandabal area of Srinagar on April 16, was retrieved from the river on Saturday morning at Noorbagh, officials said.

The body was handed over to the family for the last rites. According to locals the body was found floating on the river. On Friday evening, body of 11-year-old Haziq Ahmed Sheikh was found near the Old Zero Bridge in Srinagar. With the recovery of two bodies, the total number of deaths in the accident has reached eight.

On April 16 morning, six people were killed and three went missing after a boat carrying 19 passengers, including seven school-going children, overturned in Srinagar’s Jhelum river.

The boat was heading to Batwara when it split in two after hitting an iron pole of an under-construction footbridge. All the children on the boat were students of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Sonwar, located across the river. Locals blamed the under-construction bridge for the tragedy. The officials have now announced the bridge will be completed by June end.

Police said that rescue teams, including the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and Marcos, are searching the Jhelum river, covering 4 to 5 kms downstream from Gandbal to Raj Bagh to locate the last missing person. Divers are also searching underwater.