Andhra Pradesh: 12 killed, 35 missing as tourist boat capsizes in Godavari
HYDERABAD: At least 12 people were killed and 35 others missing when a sightseeing boat carrying over 60 people capsized in the Godavari River near Devipatnam in Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari district on Sunday, officials said.
Local officials said 14 people were rescued after the incident, local officials said. Rescued passengers have been shifted to a government hospital at Rampachodavaram, East Godavari superintendent of police, Adnan Nayeem Asmi said.
Most people on board the Royal Vashishta were tourists travelling to Papikondalu, a famous tourist spot near Rajahmundry.
Andhra Pradesh home minister, M Sucharita, told news agency IANS that there were 61 people — 50 passengers and 11 crew members, all of them Indian nationals — on board the boat when it capsized.
Sucharita said tour boats had been barred from operating on the route following the recent flooding of the river and it was not clear how the boat that capsized had managed to take out the tourists.
“Stern action will be taken against the culprits,” Sucharita said.
Two NDRF teams, each with 30 members, were sent to the spot, according to relief and rehabilitation department authorities.
Navy helicopters are conducting rescue operations. The Godavari River has been in spate due to fresh floods for the last one week.
A total of 14 passengers from Kadipikonda village of Telangana’s Warangal district were travelling in the boat. One of the rescued passengers told a local television channel that the boat suddenly tilted in the river and overturned. Some passengers tried to climb on top of the boat to save themselves, while others fell into the water.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is reviewing the situation. He has directed local ministers and MLAS to supervise rescue operations. Two boats of the Andhra Pradesh tourism department have been sent to the spot.
The chief minister has ordered cancellation of licences of all boats being operated in the