30 school children saved from drowning in tn boat capsize

About 30 school children, part of a group of 50 persons, had a miraculous escape when the boat carrying them capsized as they tried to cross the swollen Arani river near Ponneri, nearly 40 km North of Chennai, reports M.R Venkatesh.

About 30 school children, part of a group of 50 persons, had a miraculous escape on Friday when the boat carrying them capsized as they tried to cross the swollen Arani river near Ponneri, nearly 40 km North of Chennai.

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The children including boys and girls were being ferried from a village on the opposite bank to Ponneri, when the mishap occurred. As the boatman took more people than the 30-odd it can usually hold, mid-stream the over-crowded boat turned turtle.

Fire and Rescue Services personnel said that while some of the elders jumped out of the boat and swam ashore to safety, some of the senior school children who knew swimming also made it on their own to the bank. Several other children struggling in the waters were saved by onlookers on the other side of the bank who quickly jumped into the river and dragged the kids ashore to safety, sources said. A 25-year-old woman passenger, Ms. Kalai Selvi, was seriously injured when she fell off the boat and has been admitted to the local Government hospital.