MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 21 Sixteen schoolchildren drowned when a minibus fell into the Jhelum river near Muzaffarabad, the Azad Kashmir capital, on Tuesday. The bus was carrying 14 other children, whose fate remained unknown till midnight, but rescue workers held out little hope of finding them alive.

The mini-bus was taking the 30 children, two non-school goers among them, to a private school when it plunged into the river from a narrow but metalled road on the outskirts of Hattian Dupatta, 26km south of here, official sources said. The driver survived.

All victims belonged to Kanina and Chathiyan villages and were going to their school in colourful dresses to attend an Eid Milan party.

Jhelum river, whose level has lately receded, flows hardly 15 feet beneath the spot from where the vehicle fell into the river, allegedly because of negligence of driver Mohammad Shafi.

“The violent currents of the river swept away the vehicle, but local residents rescued three girls and a boy with some injuries,” Ghazanfar Abdullah, a resident of the area, told Dawn.

The wreckage of the vehicle was retrieved some 300 metres from the place of the accident, but there was no victim in it, he added.

The school was established by a foreign NGO in Khatpura village, on the right bank of Jhelum river, after the devastating Oct 2005 earthquake.

Fifteen bodies were taken out from different points in the river by 2pm while one more was retrieved after sunset from Ambore camp.

“The death toll is 16 and bodies of 14 schoolchildren have yet to be retrieved,” Hattian Bala Assistant Commissioner Raja Mahmood Shahid told Dawn.

Those who died were identified as Tayyiba Siddique, daughter of Mohammad Siddique; Fareeha Khurshid, daughter of Mohammad Khurshid; Sadia, daughter of Mohammad Jamil; Hira, daughter of Mohammad Ramzan; Areej, daughter of Mohammad Ramazan; Quratulain, daughter of Mohammad Ramazan; Dawood Ramzan; Sehar Bashir, daughter of Mohammad Bashir; Amaan Nazir, son of Mohammad Nazir; Sajid, son of Ghulam Hussain; Nabil, son of Ghulam Rasool; Amna Iftikhar, daughter of Mohammad Iftikhar; Hamid, son of Mohammad Saeed; Faiza, daughter of Mohammad Saeed; Nazir, son of Abdul Rehman; and Shiraz, son of Munawar Hussain.

The schoolchildren whose bodies were not retrieved, but who were feared to have drowned were identified as Aneeb Siddique, daughter of Mohammad Siddque; Mohammad Ejaz, son of Mohammad Jamil; Noorul Ain, daughter of Mohammad Ramzan; Sana, daughter of Mohammad Sharif; Falak, daughter of Mohammad Ashfaq; Aroosa Bashir, daughter of Mohammad Bashir; Natasha Bashir, daughter of Mohammad Bashir; Rukhsana Nazir, daughter of Mohammad Nazir; Aasma, daughter of Ghulam Hussain; Abdullah, son of Ghulam Hussain; Shakil, son of Ghulam Rasool; Athar, son of Fazal Rehman; Azhar, son of Mohammad Aslam; and Jawwad, son of Mohammad Yousuf.

The burial of 16 children was performed in their respective villages, Mr Shahid said.

Police have arrested the slightly injured driver who, according to some witnesses, was talking on the mobile phone when the vehicle went out of control.

Agencies add Among the dead children were seven orphans whose parents were killed in the 2005 earthquake and were adopted by a relative.

“I can't tell you what has happened,” Mohammad Khurshid, a local shopkeeper, who had adopted the children, said with tears in his eyes.

Mohammad Ramzan, a driver from Kanina village — home to most of the children in the van — said he lost four daughters and one son in the accident.