Bhubaneswar: The death toll in Jharsuguda boat capsize incident climbed to seven after rescue team recovered six more bodies today.
Bodies of three minor boys and three women were fished out by the joint team of ODRAF and Fire services personnel on Saturday morning. The minor boys and women, identified as Pikeswar Rathia and Naveen Rathia and Radhika Rathia belong to Chhattisgarh.
One person is still missing. Search operation has been intensified to trace the missing one.
The tragic incident happened on Friday afternoon when a boat carrying more than 50 passengers, including women and children, capsized in the Mahanadi River in Lakhanpur of Jharsuguda district.
All the passengers were from the Kharsani area of neighbouring Chhattisgarh and going to Patharseni in the Ambabhona block of Bargarh district.
The people were crossing the Mahanadi at Sharda in Lakhanpur block of Jharsuguda when the boat overturned in the middle of the river at around 3 p.m.
Expressing grief over the tragedy, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the next of kin of the victims. He also instructed the district administration to provide all necessary medical assistance to rescued persons.
Following the instructions of the Chief Minister, five expert scuba drivers, along with two underwater search cameras, were airlifted from Bhubaneswar to Jharsuguda to assist in the rescue operations.
