CNN-IBN
Srinagar, May 31: Sixteen school students drowned when a boat capsized in Wullar Lake in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
The students belonged to Burn Candle High School in Handwara town of Kupwara district and had gone to the lake in Watlab for a picnic, police said.
There were 25 people on boat. A defence spokesman said naval personnel had rescued a teacher and 12 children.
A group of school children requested a naval sailor to take them for a boat ride in the lake, a defence spokesman said. The sailor sought proper permission but the boat capsized due to excess weight.
As the teacher and rescued children were in a state of shock and removed to a hospital at Sopore, the exact number of students on board the boat could not be ascertained, he said.
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad expressed grief and sorrow over the death of the school children in the incident.