SUKKUR, Nov 23: A woman and seven children, including four of a family, drowned in the River Indus when an overloaded boat capsized near Gudpur, Ghotki district, on Saturday.

Twenty people of the Mirbahar community were going to Master Mohammed Ali Chachar village from Bashirabad of Pano Aqil taluka in the boat.

The boat overturned after loosing balance when it neared Gadhpur, resulting in drowning of all the people aboard.

The residents of nearby villages immediately gathered on both banks of the river and launched a rescue operation. They managed to fish out 12 people, including women and children.

Later the divers of the area recovered eight bodies.

The victims have been identified as Mina, 28, wife of Gul Sher; Siani, 12; Javed Ali, 8; Manzooran, 4; Rabia 2; Zarina, 10; Mumtaz Ali, 8; and Ghulam Mustufa, 8, son of Ghulam Rasool.

The survivors — Liaqat Ali, Mohammad Ali, Ali Mohammad, Rozina, Nihalan, Haseena, Wazeeran and Imran Ali — were shifted to the taluka hospital, Pano Aqil.

The victims used to cross the Indus from Pano Aqil daily to go to the Chachar village for cotton picking. The woman carried their minor children with them because they had to work all the day at the fields.

As the bodies of the victims reached Bashirabad, an atmosphere of grief envoloped the whole area.

Later, the bodies were buried in the village graveyard in the presence of hundreds of the villagers.