SUKKUR: Divers and volunteers rescued 10 schoolchildren and were continuing their efforts into the night to search for the remaining one after a boat carrying them capsized in the Khirthar canal near Bashirabad on Friday morning.

The boat was carrying the children to their school as per their daily routine, said the families of the children. They said it overturned on Friday while sailing towards their school in Bashirabad.

A woman, Punhal Mahar, the operator of the boat, was also rescued, they said, adding that a class-VI student, Kajul Odh, daughter of Shaman Odh, was still missing and feared to have drowned.

Mr Odh told the media during the search for his daughter that a road route leading to the school via a bypass did exist but it was too long a ride and, therefore, most families living in villages on the other bank of the canal preferred the boat route.

Had there been a small wooden bridge linking the villages to the school, people would not have opted for the boat route, he argued.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2015

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