Photo Credits: 17 feared drowned as overloaded boat capsizes in Patna
Family members crying for their missing relatives in a boat accident at Ganga river in Patna on Saturday. PTI
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23 dead as boat carrying 40 capsizes in Ganga near Patna, rescue ops on
PTI
PATNA
At least 23 people drowned and another 12 were feared dead when an overloaded boat capsized in the Ganga here on Saturday evening.
The dead included men, women and children who had gone to a kite flying festival organised on the
sandbar across the ghats. The boat, designed to carry 25 people, was carrying at least 50 people
when it overturned at 5.45 pm.
Seven people were rescued, most of them having ingested water while struggling to come to shore.
The administration had run a free ferry service to take people to festival site in the morning.
But as it became colder in the evening, people flocked to whatever boats were available to return,
eyewitnesses said.
“The boat was overloaded and it capsized when it started from the Diara side (Sabalpur),” said Manju Devi of Ranipur, one of the survivors of the tragedy, undergoing treatment at PMCH.
Reports said chief minister Nitish Kumar ordered an investigation into the accident and announced
a payout of Rs 4 lakh for the victims’ families.
Members of the state disaster response force carried out search and rescue operations into the night
as relatives of those who had gone to the festival crowded the NIT ghat, the closest point to the
site where the boat flipped over.
Some 75,000 people had attended the festival for the Makar Sankranti celebrations throughout Saturday.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed grief over the tragedy and ordered a probe.
Kumar has ordered cancellation of all subsequent events to organised in the diara (riverine) area as part of the Makar Sankranti festivities.
The kite festival from where the victims were returning was scheduled to continue for the next three days.
Bihar JD(U) President Basistha Narayan Singh said the JD(U) feast tomorrow, to which BJP leaders were invited for the first time since 2013 when the two allies had parted ways, also stood cancelled.
The CM has instructed senior officials to seek details about the programme as to whether proper arrangements were made for the event, an official statement said.
Kumar was closely monitoring the situation, it said.
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BOX
'Dahi-Chura' feast stands cancelled
Bihar: JD(U) President Basistha Narayan Singh said the JD(U) feast tomorrow, to which BJP leaders were invited for the first time since 2013 when the two allies had parted ways, also stood cancelled.
The CM has instructed senior officials to seek details about the programme as to whether proper arrangements were made for the event, an official statement said.
“In order to share the grief of the families of the victims, I have decided to cancel the Makar Sankranti feast at my residence tomorrow,” Singh told PTI.
“All the guests including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and others have been informed about cancellation of the feast,” the state JD(U) chief said.
The event, which the state Congress chief and minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet Ashok Choudhary had indicated he would skip, was seen as another mainifestation of the growing bonhomie between JD(U) and BJP. The perception was strengthened after Kumar supported demonetisation and peaked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising the Chief Minister on prohibition.
