Odisha Boat Tragedy Toll Rises To 7 With Recovery Of 5 Bodies

Jharsuguda: The death toll in the tragic boat mishap in Mahanadi river in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district rose to seven on Saturday with the recovery of five more bodies.

Sources said the ODRAF and fire services personnel recovered five bodies during search operation in Hirakud Dam area here. Two bodies had been retrieved from during search operation launched after the mishap on Friday. The deceased reportedly included three women and three boys.

The search operation is still in progress to trace one more persons who have been missing since the mishap took place on Friday.

All deceased persons are stated to be from Kharseni area of neighbouring Chhattisgarh. They were traveling on the ferry to Patharseni under Ambavona Block when the incident took place.

Around 50 passengers were reportedly onboard when the boat capsized in the Hirakud Dam near Sarada ghat in Rengali area limits on Friday afternoon. While the fishermen rescued over 40 passengers, others went missing.

While the fire services personnel engaged in the search operation fished out two bodies from the water, six others remained untraceable yesterday. However, the team recovered three more bodies today morning.

Expressing grief over deaths in boat tragedy, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had on Friday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the families of the deceased persons. He directed the officials to send five scuba divers and two search cameras to Jharsuguda to trace the missing persons.