At least 13 children aged 15 or below died when a boat capsized in the Ganga in Bihar’s Vaishali district on Tuesday evening.
The boat was carrying 15 to 20 children to a feast in a neighbouring village, according to the District Magistrate.
Seven people were rescued and taken to a hospital in Patna, where their condition was reported as stable.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 2 lakh and Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary announced Rs 4 lakh for the families of the dead.
The cause is yet to be established.
At least 13 children died when a boat capsized in the Ganga in Bihar’s Vaishali district on the evening of Tuesday, October 13, 2026, according to India TV and The Daily Jagran.
District Magistrate Varsha Singh said the accident occurred at around 8:30 pm and called it a very tragic incident, according to India TV.
The spot is in Ward No. 8 of Rampur Shyamchand panchayat in Raghopur block, according to The Daily Jagran.
The boat was carrying 15 to 20 children to a neighbouring village, according to the District Magistrate’s statement quoted by India TV.
The children were reportedly going to a feast, according to The Daily Jagran.
All those who died were aged 15 or younger, according to India TV, while some other reports mention an age as high as 16, so the reports are not fully consistent on ages.
Tejashwi Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and MLA from Raghopur, said 14 people had died, according to The Daily Jagran. The official count in the reports was 13.
Seven people were rescued and taken to the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital in Patna, and their condition was described as stable, according to the reports.
A team of the State Disaster Response Force worked with local divers, and the National Disaster Response Force was also deployed, according to the reports.
River Ganges at Patna (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
