Five people, including four children, drowned after a boat capsized in the Yamuna river here, and an 11-year-old boy was also missing, police said on Thursday.
They said that the incident occurred on Wednesday evening in Kutubpur Patia village under Baoli Gram panchayat in Kurara police station area, when nine people, not including the boatman, were returning from a river island.
According to police, the boat lost its balance in the middle of the river and capsized at around 7 p.m. The navigator Dhiru managed to save three people – Vishnu, Rinku and Parul.
The remaining six – five children and a woman – Akanksha (9), Rani (9), Brijrani (25), Labyansh (5), Mahesh (6) and Aditya (11) have gone missing, police said.
Later on Thursday, rescue teams recovered the bodies of Akanksha, Labyansh, Mahesh, Rani and Brijrani.
SHO Brijesh Kumar said that due to heavy rain since morning, teams are facing difficulties in the rescue operation. One Aditya is still missing and attempts are on to trace him.
District Magistrate Abhishek Goyal said teams from the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force are conducting the search operation.
“We will ensure that the affected families are compensated as per rules and will submit a report to the chief minister regarding the incident,” BJP MLA from Hamirpur Manoj Prajapati said.
Considering the incident, Chief Minister Adityanath directed the district administration to investigate the cause of the incident and put in place effective measures to prevent such incidents in the future.
The Prime Minister also instructed senior district officials to personally monitor the search operations and ensure all possible assistance is provided to the affected families.
