7 children drowned as van falls in Indira canal, three bodies traced

The vehicle carried 29 people, who were returning after a wedding function in the neighbouring Barabanki district, and of them 22 were rescued.

Grieving family members of the children, who are feared drowned after a van fell into the Indira canal, at Nagram area of Lucknow on June 20, 2019.

The bodies of three children were recovered during search operations after seven of them went missing when a pick-up van plunged into a canal near here Thursday, officials said.

The vehicle carried 29 people, who were returning after a wedding function in the neighbouring Barabanki district, and of them 22 were rescued.

Seven children went missing and the three bodies were fished out by divers of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), officials said.

The van fell into the Indira canal in Nagram on the outskirts at around 3 a.m., Lucknow District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said.

“Three bodies have been found and the hunt is on to trace the remaining four children,” Mr. Sharma said. The bodies were yet to be identified, he added.

“As many as seven children, all in the age group of 5 and 10 years, are missing. They might have been washed away in the rapid current of the water in the canal,” Mr. Sharma, who rushed to the site, said earlier.

Parents of some of the missing children accused the driver of the pick-up van of being under the influence of alcohol.

“The driver of the van was under the influence of alcohol and was driving at a high speed when he overshot a bend and the van hurtled down the canal,” said Lajjawati, one of the parents.