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Over 20 people feared dead as boat capsizes in Yamuna, in Banda
Over 20 people were feared drowned when a boat carrying about 40 people, including 25 women and children, capsized in the Yamuna, in Banda district, on Thursday
Over 20 people were feared drowned when a boat carrying about 40 people, including 25 women and children, capsized in the Yamuna, in Banda district, on Thursday. Police said that women, children and other people from Semgara village were sailing from Marka ghat of Banda to Jarauli ghat of Fatehpur district at around 2.30 pm.
Locals said most people were going to celebrate Raksha Bandhan with their siblings.
Superintendent of police, Banda, Abhinandan said that so far three bodies have been recovered - including that of a child - while 13 managed to swim to safety, and there are still 17 people missing.
Additional chief secretary (ACS), home, Awanish Awasthi said chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed the local administrative officials and other state authorities to carry out rescue operations and provide all possible medical treatment to people who survived the incident. The ACS home said the CM has expressed grief over the deaths.
Banda additional superintendent of police (ASP), Laxmi Niwas Mishra said that the incident apparently happened as the boat was overloaded and it overturned when it reached deep waters.
He said teams of the National Disaster Response Force team and State Disaster Response Force teams have been called to carry out rescue operations. He said that so far, only four bodies have been recovered and further efforts are on to fish out the bodies. He said district magistrate Anurag Patel and SP Abhinandan are supervising the rescue operations at the incident spot.
