Ten suspected child labourers drowned in Rwanda when their boat sank, a police official said Wednesday, as investigators detained the man allegedly responsible for hiring them.
The dead were among 13 children aged between 11 and 15 years hired by a construction worker travelling on the vessel with them across the Nyabarongo river in southern Rwanda on Monday when the accident occurred.
"Ten dead bodies have been retrieved from the river... the rescue operation has closed today," police spokesman John Bosco Kabera told AFP.
Three children survived, along with their employer who has been detained on suspicion of endangering children and engaging in child labour, Kabera said, adding that investigations were continuing.