The accident occurred in a village in the Guntakal region of Andhra Pradesh state on Friday evening when the group was taking a joyride on a fishing boat.
Local police inspector Gurunath Babu said that the boat possibly capsized due to overcrowding, but the exact cause of the accident was still being investigated.
“The victims include six women, plus eight children all under the age of 15.
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“Two men were able to swim to safety while one child was rescued by locals,” Babu said.
Every year, scores of people drown in boat tragedies across India, which are mostly blamed on overcrowding, poor maintenance of vessels and lax safety rules.
In January, 25 people died when a boat sank in the Ganges river in the eastern state of Bihar.
