Five feared drown after boat sinks in Ganga

The station house officer (SHO) of Digha police station, Shambhu Kumar, said that the incident occurred at around 7.45 am near Pahela Ghat and that the boat sank after it hit pillars number 10 and 11.

Five people are feared drowned after a sand-laden boat with at least 13 people on board sank in the Ganga river after colliding with pillars of JP Setu at Sonepur near Digha in Vaishali on Sunday, police said.

Rescue operations underway at Digha in Patna on Sunday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

The station house officer (SHO) of Digha police station, Shambhu Kumar, said that the incident occurred at around 7.45 am near Pahela Ghat and that the boat sank after it hit pillars number 10 and 11.

“13 people were on board the vessel when the incident occurred. Eight people have been rescued while five are feared drowned as the bodies have not been recovered during the searches conducted by the NDRF and SDRF teams,” the SHO said.

A survivor, identified as Arun Kumar, however, claimed there were about 15 people on the boat; out of which, eight were rescued. “Five to six are still missing,” he said.