PESHAWAR, Oct 28: Four school students are feared dead as a medium-size boat capsized in River Kabul near Mechni on Friday, according to residents of the area.

About 40 schoolchildren were going back to their homes in villages near Mohmand Agency after attending schools on Warsak Road, they said.

The boat might have been overloaded, they added.

Local people and divers saved the lives of 36 children, but four were missing and efforts were continuing to find them, the residents said. However, they feared that they might have drowned.

Those missing are: Shehzad, 13, son of Zafar Iqbal, resident of Angoor Koroona village; Manzoor, 6, son of Sameer, Karaira village; Owais, 6, son of Syed Wazir; and Mushtaq, 14, son of Rehman, both residents of Jumma Khan village.

The Mechni Bridge on River Kabul in the area had been swept away by a flood in last summer.

According to the residents, there is another bridge near Warsak Dam to facilitate people’s travel from the remote area to Peshawar but sometime ago the military authorities had closed it for people due to security reasons.

After the collapse of the Mechni Bridge, the provincial government has installed a small chair lift, which can carry few people across the River Kabul.

The local villagers usually use boats to cross the river.

The residents have decided to stage a demonstration on Saturday to protest against the provincial government for not repairing the bridge despite making promises.