Vadodara: 14 Students and 2 Teachers Drown on Picnic
14 students and 2 teachers died on 18th January 2024 at Harni Lake in Vadodara when a safety guard lacking & overloaded boat capsized in the lake.
In a terrible tragedy, 16 people including 14 students and 2 teachers, died on 18th January 2024 at Harni Lake on the outskirts of Vadodara, Gujarat. According to the reports, 80 students from New Sunrise School of Panigate were on a picnic and accompanied by some teachers for supervision. The children were aged between 10 to 15 years. They all came for a picnic at the lake at around 4.30 pm and 27 out of them boarded a boat. During the boating at the lake, their boat capsized. According to the officials, the boat was overloaded and only 10 students were given safety guards. These 10 students are the ones that didn’t drown. The Harni Lake is maintained by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC). The VMC had given the boating contract to a private firm called Kotia Projects. An FIR was registered with Harni police station against five persons under the charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Two persons have been arrested while teams have been formed to nab three others. The owner of Kotia Projects, Paresh Shah is reported to have gone underground. Vadodara's chief fire officer Parth Brahmbhatt announced that the fire brigade have rescued 7 students so far and the search for the missing ones is still going on. Some locals rescued some children before the fire brigade personnel reached the spot. The rescued students have been taken to different hospitals. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the fire brigade personnel have been deployed for the search operation. Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel reached the site in the evening. He met the families of the deceased and injured and expressed his condolences to them. He also ensured that the rescue operation was carried out quickly & efficiently. CM Patel announced a compensation of ?4 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased and ?50,000 for the injured. Minister for primary, secondary and adult education, Kuber Dindorn pointed out the school’s mistake and told the reporters, “We are looking at it to take action as per the law against the school management and the company managing the lake." PM Modi also expressed his grief and announced ex gratia (compensation) for all. He wrote on X (Twitter) “Distressed by the loss of lives due to a boat capsizing at the Harni lake in Vadodara. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. May the injured recover soon. The local administration is providing all possible assistance to those affected. An ex-gratia of ?2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given . ?50,000.”
