Amaravati(AP): The death toll in Sunday’s boat tragedy in Andhra Pradesh’s Godavari river went up to 26 till Tuesday.
According to the locals at Rajahmundry, four bodies were found floating on the water at Devipatnam village, a couple of bodies were seen floating at the cofferdam of Polavaram project and some others along the river course. The locals have said that one body was found stuck at the crest gate of Dowleshwaram project beyond Rajahmundry in the early hours of Tuesday.
The search operations by the teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) for the last two days did not yield any results until Tuesday morning, though the authorities have managed to locate the boat in the water using sensors.
A specialized deep diver’s team with “Side Scan Sonar” equipment from Uttarakhand State was pressed into service and it located the boat about 315 feet deep in the river.
In a major tragedy, 11 people died on Sunday afternoon when a tourist boat carrying 61 persons onboard capsized near Devipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) said.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy undertook an aerial survey of the accident spot.
In addition to the Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia he announced on Sunday for each of the kin of the deceased, Jagan Reddy announced a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to each of the injured passengers and Rs one lakh each to those who had a providential escape in the mishap.
Telangana Ministers Erraballi Dayakar Rao and Puvvada Ajay also visited Rajamahendravaram to console the victims of the boat tragedy as most of them were from their state.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh each to the bereaved families from his state.
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