At least three people were killed and four others were missing after a boat carrying 14 passengers capsized in the Ganga river near Sultanpur Dayara in Mohiuddin Nagar area of Bihar’s Samastipur district on Thursday morning, officials said.
According to officials involved in the rescue operation, seven people were rescued safely, while search operations are still continuing at the time of preparing this report.
All the passengers were residents of Masumganj Pind Toli under Barah police station area in Patna district. They had crossed the river to Sultanpur Dayara in Mehudiynagar area of Samastipur district for agricultural work and were returning to Umanath Ghat with vegetables loaded from parwal (pointed gourd) fields when the accident occurred.
“Three deaths have been confirmed so far and four people are still missing,” Brijesh Kumar Dwivedi, Mohiuddin Nagar district officer, said, adding that among the dead were two men and a woman. The identities of the victims have been identified.
In an earlier update issued in the morning, the Patna district administration said the incident occurred around 5:45 am when 14 people from Pind Toli boarded the boat bound for Sultanpur Diyara, where they regularly travel for parwal harvesting and other agricultural activities. The administration subsequently confirmed that seven people had been rescued, two bodies had been recovered, and five people were missing.
The department said that strong winds caused the boat to capsize near Sultanpur Diyara in Samastipur district. Rescue operations are being conducted jointly by the district administrations of Patna and Samastipur.
Garima Lohia, sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Barah, said the accident occurred after the boat’s engine broke down midway. She added: “Initially, two bodies were recovered.”
Officials from the Disaster Management Department, led by Barah SDO and Deputy Superintendent of Police, were present at the site to supervise the rescue efforts.
As news of the tragedy spread, thousands of local residents and family members of the victims gathered at Umanath Ghat. Local police and civil administration officials participated in identifying the recovered bodies and completing legal procedures.
