RAGHOPUR, Oct. 15 -- Bagtaan Tola village of Rampur Shyamchand panchayat is marooned in grief. Thirteen of its children are dead. Villagers are grieving with wailing mothers. It was a heart-wrenching sight on Wednesday when 12 bodies were taken for cremation. The last rites of the victims were performed at Khalsa Ghat. Tuesday's calamity brought severe misfortune to the family of Suresh Rai, a furniture businessman in Rampur Shyamchand village. He lost seven members in a quirk of fate. The deceased have been identified as Suresh Rai's two daughters Alisha Kumari and Srishti Kumari, brother Ram Naresh Rai's son Piyush Kumar and daughter Sonam Kumari, and brother Akhilesh Rai's sons Aryan Kumar and Bunty Kumar. Soni Kumari, sister of the three brothers, also died in the accident. "It can't be more tragic that an entire family has been wiped out in one stroke. All the children used to play in the courtyard, but today there are only coffins and nothing is left," said a wailing septuagenarian family member, while others were in equal trauma. Suresh Rai said that six children of the three brothers and their sister were killed in the accident. Soni was the youngest of the 13 siblings. "Over a dozen children drowned in front of my eyes. We were taking out the bodies with the help of wood. We had complained to the administration about the poor condition of the boat three years ago. Every time there was an assurance that repairs would be done, but nothing happened. Seven children of our family died today. Now what can we ask for?" said Suresh Rai. He said that as soon as the information about the accident spread, people reached the river bank. "There were children floating in the water. Some were trying to get out, but they ran out of time. We first looked for wood or any other support to pull out the drowning people. But it was so dark that I couldn't see inside the water," he added. The pain of another family in the same village was no less. Satyendra Rai's 16-year-old daughter Nishu Kumari died in the incident. She was studying in Class 8 and was the youngest of three siblings. Her father Satyendra Rai was also rescued in the accident and taken to the hospital for treatment. Satyendra said that he had deposited Rs.3,000 for the coaching fees of his daughter and granddaughter just two days ago. Little did he know that such a tragedy would strike the family. Satyendra's nephew Rajkishore Rai's three daughters -- 15-year-old Ankita, 11-year-old Sunita and 10-year-old Amrita -- also lost their lives in the accident. Another nephew, Mukesh Rai's eight-year-old son, Naman Kumar, also died. Doman Rai's 12-year-old daughter Pinki Kumari died in the incident. She was accompanied on the boat by her younger sister Chandni Kumari and three-year-old nephew Tej Pratap Kumar. Both were rushed to the primary health centre at Raghopur Fatehpur for treatment. They were later referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for better treatment. According to locals, the villagers tried to rescue the children as soon as they learned that a boat had overturned. Cots and ropes were used to pull people out of the river and transport them to hospitals. However, because early and efficient official support was unavailable, their efforts did not result in the rescue of all those who were drowning. So, there is a lot of anger against the administration in the village. Another bereaved parent is Singheshwar Rai, who resides a little distance from Bagtaan Tola village and lost a specially-abled daughter in the tragedy. Locals allege that Tuesday's tragedy in the diara area can be attributed to the floodwater that came when the Ganga was in spate and has stagnated ever since. The villagers are forced to use boats to cross these waters to go to other villages. In some areas, the villagers said, the water is as deep as 25 feet and any incident of boat sinking could result in a big tragedy-which is exactly what happened on Tuesday night when an overloaded ferry boat was caught in a mishap and travellers, the majority of whom were children, could not swim or be brought ashore. "Outside the village there was a small bridge over which you could cross to the other hamlet, but because of the shortcut, we chose the boat on that fateful day," said Ravindra Charan, a villager who was on the boat, adding that the shortcut proved too costly....