New Delhi: Bodies of eight of the 17 people who were feared drowned in a boat capsize two days ago were fished out in Fatehpur district on Saturday, police said. Three bodies had already been recovered taking the confirmed death toll to 11. The tragedy occurred in Yamuna river in Banda district’s Samgara village on Thursday.
“Total of 17 people have been recovered who are completely fine, 11 bodies have been recovered, 3 bodies on the first day of the incident while 8 bodies have been recovered today and at least 4 people are feared still missing. Most of the dead bodies have been recovered from the area of 'Yadav Ghat Pull', which is a downstream area, we are conducting a massive rescue operation with the help of the National Disaster Response Force team, a State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), and Pradeshik Armed Constabulary and the Jal police," said SP Banda Abhinandan.
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Anurag Patel, DM, Banda said that they have taken the account details of the deceased's family members and the compensation amount will be directly transferred to their accounts. "For now, two people have received the amount and the rest will be getting it soon," he said.
Meanwhile, the district administration has started identifying the bodies. Some of the dead bodies were recovered 15-20 kilometers away from the incident spot. The boat carrying over 30 people, motorcycles, and bicycles was sailing from Marka towards Jarauli Ghat in Fatehpur when it lost balance due to strong wind causing huge waves, leading to the tragedy.
After the accident, on Friday, Union Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, UP government ministers Rakesh Sachan and Ramkesh Nishad also reached the spot where they took stock of the ongoing rescue operation and gave necessary instructions to the officials.
