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Patna (India): At least 26 people died and several went missing while a boat capsized in Ganga river in Eastern Indian state Bihar on Saturday evening.
According to the reports, the vessel was carrying around 40 people.
A senior official of Bihar state government said that, rescue team still scouring the waters.
The non-motorised wooden boat, packed with more passengers returning from a kite festival, was capsized in Ganga river near Patna, the capital city of the Eastern Indian state.
The Bihar government official said that, the exact number of missing people could not be ascertained due to absence of the passengers list.
Following the tragic incident, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, Bihar police and local people were engaged in rescue operation.
NDRF DG RK Pachnanda said, three NDRF teams are at the spot and rescue operations underway.
Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a high level probe into the incident.
The Bihar government has also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the next kin of the victims.
On the other hand, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his grief of the incident and announced Rs 2 lakh to the next kin of death.
More than 100 people had lost their lives in 2012 in the north eastern Indian state Assam when a boat sank in the Brahmaputra River during a storm.
(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
