Bihar boat tragedy: Three bodies recovered, rescue operation continues

Patna: A day after a boat carrying around 30 children capsized in the Bagmati River in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, separate teams of SDRF and NDRF have managed to find three bodies so far, said officials on Friday, adding that the rescue operation was continuing.

An official of the district administration claimed that eight children are still missing and their chances of survival were very small. One of three bodies belongs to a 40-year-old man, who rescued some children but drowned later. Another body belongs to a 4-year-old boy.

The tragedy took place when the ill-fated boat carrying around 30 children and some parents was crossing the river to reach Bhattgama Ghat on the other side on Thursday morning. The boat overturned in the middle of the river and all of them fell into the water.

Twenty children managed to swim out, but around 12 others drowned. The wideness of the river is not large but the current in the water was very high at the time of the tragedy.

“We have conducted a rescue operation on Thursday and also resumed it on Friday morning as well. The exact number of casualties is not ascertained yet,” said Saharyar Akhtar, DSP of Muzaffarpur East.

Following the incident, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered an inquiry and Muzaffarpur District Magistrate Pranav Kumar is leading the investigation. The state government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the family members of deceased.