Srinagar:Loud cries echoed near the banks of the Jhelum in Gandbal on the outskirts of Srinagar on Tuesday where a boat capsize cut short six lives, including three of a family, as the bodies were being fished out of the water one after the other.
The boat was ferrying mostly schoolchildren. It collided with a pillar of an under-construction bridge and split into two in the fast-flowing currents of the river already in spate following incessant rainfall in the Kashmir Valley over the last few days.
While the exact number of people on the boat was not clear yet, rescuers dragged 10 people out of the water safely while three are still missing.
The atmosphere slowly turned grim as anxious locals gathered at the embankment and watched the rescue operation but the lull did not last long. Loud wails pierced the air as rescuers began pulling out lifeless bodies from the water, which brought many others to tears.
The administration has pressed marine commandos into the rescue operation to trace those missing. The elite commandos were airlifted from their base in the Manasbal area of the Ganderbal district. Amid all the gloom and grief, a heroic effort by a migrant labourer found praise.
Dhoodhnath, who was at his rented accommodation near the banks of the river, saw the boat capsize mid-water and jumped into the river to save lives. "I saw the boat overturn. The current was strong but I rescued three people," he said later.
A survivor said there were about two dozen people on the boat, most of them children. "The ropes of the boat snapped and it hit one of the pillars of the under-construction bridge and broke into two. Many people drowned and three of us caught hold of the edges of the boat and somehow managed to save ourselves.
"A woman was also pulled out of the water and the four of us were rescued by another boat," he told reporters. The man said local people, including children, use the boat service every day to cross the river in the absence of a bridge.