ALAPPUZHA: Eight students, who were about to attend the sub-district youth festival at chambakulam, sustained injury when a country boat in which they were travelling capsized at Chandakadavu at Mankombu near here on Tuesday.
Four of the injured were admitted to Alappuzha (Vandanam) Medical College for treatment.
Keerthy, 13, Anaswra, 11, Anakha, 12, Aleena 10, Pooja 13, Aleesha 12, Anakah, 11, and Megha, 10, were the injured.
According to the police at Pulimkunnu, the incident happened around 9.30 am Tuesday when the ferry was moving to Chandakadavu with the children. The police said that the boat was over-crowded when the accident took place. Pulimkunnu SI N P Sidharth said that the the students were rescued from the water by the local people. As the accident was close to the shore, it averted a major casualty, said Sidharth.
The people who rescued the students said that a few teachers were also in the boat, and a good number of students swam to shore, almost 100 mtrs across Pampa river, and saved themselves, as they all knew swimming.
Beeyar Prasad, a native of Mankombu, said that the commuters from the backwater islands travelling across the river, including the school children, are in great danger as the boats are always over-crowded.
The country boats, which can carry at the most six passengers, ferry 15 to 20 at the busy times including morning and evening. Some of the boats are very old, and at times, the students navigate the boats themselves, putting aged people also in danger, said PrasadThe panchayats usually tender the ferry service to private parties, but most of them are not abiding with the contract agreement clauses, reports said. The natives of the area said that there are more than 25 ferry services across the Pampa river, and the contractors are using smaller boats than the specified ones, and most of the times, out-dated.
Nedumudi, Kidangara, Pulimkunnu, Kavalam, Pullangadi, Chambakulam canal jetty, Mankombu power station, Old Treasury, Mini Civil station, Kochupallikadav, Pullangad, Moonnattumukhom and Chennamkari are the areas to which small boats are used, and they are also areas to which large number of people are being ferried.
In rainy season, the risk of accidents increases many times, said the locals.