10 persons missing after freight vessel loses balance in river Ganga

Deputy commissioner Ram Niwas Yadav said four to five overloaded trucks tell into the river after the vessel tilted

KATIHAR: At least 10 people were feared drowned after a vessel carrying overloaded trucks with stone chips lost its balance midstream in the Ganga between Samda Ghat in Jharkhand’s Sahibganj and Bihar’s Manihari Katihar late on Thursday night.

(HT PHOTO)

Sahibganj deputy commissioner Ram Niwas Yadav said four to five overloaded trucks tell into the river after the vessel tilted. He added a National Disaster Response Force team from Deoghar has been pressed into the rescue operation. “We are getting details of the missing persons,” he said. Yadav said the incident will be probed.

Amar Choudhary, the vessel’s captain, said the tyre of one of the trucks burst and the vessel tilted and five overloaded trucks fell into the river. He said at least 10 persons including the drivers and cleaners of the trucks were missing.

In August 1988, about 400 pilgrims drowned when an overcrowded ferry carrying them capsized in the Ganga near Katihar. In 2018 and 2020, two vessels capsized leaving several people dead.