At least 15 people celebrating Eid drowned when their boat capsized in the Indus river in northwest Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday, authorities said.

The tragedy took place in the Kund Park region of Nowshera district where people, who gathered in large numbers to celebrate Eid, drowned in the river at the confluence of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, 1122 Rescue officials said.

The officials said they rescued 11 people alive and the search for the missing three is underway.

The rescue teams from Nowshera, Swabi and Mardan are participating in the search operation.

Governor Ghulam Ali and chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur expressed profound grief and sorrow over the tragic incident.

Children killed A poverty-stricken man allegedly axed to death his wife and seven minor children in the Punjab province of Pakistan on Thursday, the police said.

Sajjad Khokhar, a labourer by profession, attacked his wife Kausar, 42, and seven children — four daughters and three sons, aged between eight months and 10 years — with an axe killing them on the spot in Alipur, Muzaffargarh district, 350 km from Lahore.