8 schoolchildren killed in Kerala boat mishap

Eight schoolchildren have died in Kerala's Malappuram district, after a country boat taking 31 of them back from school flipped over on Wednesday. All the students belonged to the Moorkanad Higher Secondary School.

The local fire brigade has started search and rescue operations for the others; three have already been rescued and shifted to hospital.

Schoolchildren cry for their classmates who drowned in the latest boat tragedy. On September 30, close to 40 tourists died when their boat flipped over on the Thekaddy Lake near the Periyar National Park.

People of the area assisted in the rescue operation. Barely two months after 40 tourists died in a boat mishap, it seems the safety norms are the last things on authorities mind in Kerala.

Bystanders and rescue personnel use ropes to pull a vessel to shore at The Thekkady Tiger reserve, some 240 kilometres (149 miles) from Thiruvananthapuram on September 30, 2009, after a boat accident. A tourist boat carrying 76 people in the southern Indian state of Kerala capsized on Wednesday. The boat overturned in the popular Thekkady Tiger reserve, 240 kilometres (149 miles) from Kerala state capital Thiruvananthapuram, when tourists rushed to one side of the vessel to catch a glimpse of a herd of wild elephants.  (AFP Photo)

Bystanders and rescue personnel attempt to revive a child at The Thekkady Tiger reserve, some 240 kilometres (149 miles) from Thiruvananthapuram on September 30, 2009, after a boat accident. (AFP Photo)

Rescue operation in progress after a boat mishap at a tourist spot at Thekkady in Kerala on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)

Rescue operation in progress after a boat mishap at a tourist spot at Thekkady in Kerala on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)

Rescue operation in progress after a boat mishap at a tourist spot at Thekkady in Kerala on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)