Agencies

Kochi, Feb 20: At least 15 children were drowned when a boat carrying 103 students and staff of a school capsized in the Periyar river near Thattekkad bird sanctuary in Kerala's Ernakulam district, a private TV channel said.

Ernakulam's District Collector A P M Mohammad Haneesh told reporters that a search was on for children and staff of the Elavoor school near Angamali who were swept away when the boat capsized.

According to the channel, around 56 children have been rescued by the naval officials.

A PTI report, however, put the death toll at 15 while Malayala Manorama's website said 13 kids were killed. All the dead children were below 10 years of age.

According to reports reaching here, a group of 106 schoolchildren of St Anthony's School in Ernakulam were on an excursion tour to the Thattekkad bird sanctuary on three boats when the tragedy occurred at around 1910 hours on Tuesday.

The Kerala DGP said one of the three boats carrying 40 children capsized. The children, along with some school staff, were swept away when the boat capsized near Angamaly.

Only eight children from the capsized boat have been rescued so far. The kids who were on the other two boats, are however, reported to be safe.

A rescue operation is said to be on to trace the missing kids. The rescue team is using floodlights to trace the kids in the darkness.

The Thattekadu Bird Sanctuary is a famous tourist spot, which is home to numerous indigenous bird species like the malabar grey-hornbill, the woodpecker, rose-ringed and blue winged parakeet.

Rare birds like the laylon, frogmoth and the rosebilled roller are also found here. The sanctuary was first discovered by renowned orinthologist Dr Salim Ali.