india

Updated: Sep 29, 2019 18:54 IST

A truck carrying 12 schoolchildren in Rajasthan’s Dungarpur district was swept away by floods on Sunday. Local residents, however, pitched in and saved the students from drowning or being swept away, according to news agency ANI.

An open truck with the students on board was making its way through a flooded street when it veered off the road due to strong currents. Locals formed a human chain wading through knee-deep water to reach and rescue the twelve children.

Heavy rainfall over the last week has led to floods in large parts of northern India. On Saturday, three school children, including a five-year-old were killed when the wall of a government school fell due to heavy rain in Thobwara village of Udaipur district.

#WATCH: Narrow escape for 12 school children after the truck they were travelling in veered off the flooded road in Dungarpur, Rajasthan. (28/09) pic.twitter.com/OtelfUn3Z6 — ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2019

Bihar too has been reeling from incessant rainfall leading to floods with several hospitals being inundated. More than 20 people were killed across Bihar after heavy rain over the last three days. Streets were flooded in the state capital Patna and teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed to carry out rescue operations. The administration has ordered the closure of all schools in several districts till Tuesday. A red alert has been sounded by the weather department anticipating more rain.

Heavy rain has also been reported in Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh.

Southern parts of Gujarat have also been battered by heavy rain in the past 24 hours resulting in the death of three people. Four fishermen are suspected to have drowned when their boat capsized off the coast of Gir Somnath on Saturday night, state disaster relief officials said.

According to the police, a boat carrying four fishermen capsized in the Arabian Sea off Nava Bandar coast in Gir Somnath district on Saturday evening. A team comprising of Coast Guard and marine police are trying to locate the four missing fishermen.