ANDHRA BOAT CAPSIZE TOLL TOUCHES 20, CHIEF MINISTER NAIDU VISITS SITE
AMARAVATI: The death toll in the boat capsize incident in Krishna river near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh has climbed to 20 following the recovery of three more bodies on Monday morning, an official said.
State disaster response and fire services department’s director general N Satyanarayana said while two bodies were recovered by teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), another was fished out by personnel of his department.
“There is suspicion that four are still missing. We are pressing scuba divers into service to trace them. Since there is a lot of water movement because teams are at work, the bodies, if any, could have floated away. We have intensified the operation,” Satyanarayana said at Ferry ghat.
An overloaded boat carrying 39 people capsized Sunday close to the ‘Pavitra Sangamam’ (confluence point of Krishna and Godavari) at Ferry village near Vijayawada. Till late Sunday, 16 bodies had been fished out.
Local fishermen rescued 14 people soon after the mishap.
The boat hit a sand mound inside the river while swerving a curve. At the same time, the passengers in it moved to one side to take a closer look at the Pavitra Harati at the Sangamam, resulting in the boat capsizing, according to the police. Vijayawada police commissioner Gautam Sawang said the private boat operator did not have a valid license. “There were no life jackets for passengers, either.We have registered a criminal case against the operator and will take stern action,” Sawang told reporters last night. The police also launched a hunt for the missing boat driver. Two teams each comprising 30 NDRF personnel, a 45-member team of the SDRF and 60 members of the Disaster Response and Fire Services Department have been roped into the rescue operation.