Patna: At least five people are feared drowned after a boat carrying 17 passengers capsized at river Ganga’s Umantha ghat under Barh sub-division of Patna district in Bihar, officials said. The incident took place Sunday morning.
Officials said several teams, including the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), began their operations and rescued 12 people.
A large number of devotees had come to Ganga to take a dip in the holy river on the occasion of Ganga Dussehr.
The incident took place at Umanath Ghat in Barh when the people were crossing the river by boat and it lost balance and overturned, said officials.
Bunty Kumari, an eyewitness, said that the mishap took place at around 9.15am when the boat carrying 17 people overturned midway.
“The boat overturned and sank in the middle of the Ganga river. However, 12 people were either rescued or swam to safety while six are still missing”, said Kumari.
Upon knowing the incident, district administration officials and police personnel reached the spot and started rescue operations with the help of SDRF. “...We soon reached the incident spot and started rescue operations to trace missing persons. The search operation is on to trace the six missing persons”, said Shubham Kumar, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Barh.
“We are also engaging SDRF personnel and are trying to ascertain the identity of the missing persons. The rescue operation is going to trace the whereabouts of the missing occupants of the ill-fated boat”, he added.
{{/usCountry}}“We are also engaging SDRF personnel and are trying to ascertain the identity of the missing persons. The rescue operation is going to trace the whereabouts of the missing occupants of the ill-fated boat”, he added.
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