Rescuers dragged 13 dead children out of India’s Ganges River after an overloaded boat capsized en route to a Hindu festival, officials said on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing grief over the “deeply painful” tragedy.
The boat overturned late on Tuesday in Vaishali district in eastern Bihar state, with locals rushing to pull people out of the water in the dark using mobile phones to find the bodies.
“It was dark when we suddenly heard children screaming and crying for help as the boat capsized,” said Ravi Yadav, a young villager who joined the rescue effort.
“We managed to rescue only three children, using the light from mobile phones and torches, because it was dark.”