The boat had around 32 passengers, mostly students
Highlights
- Passenger boat carrying 40 capsized in Andhra's East Godavari district
- 33 people, mostly students, have been rescued
- The boat hit a pillar of a bridge in the river and turned over
Four school girls and a woman are missing after a boat that was carrying 32 people capsized in the river Godavari on Saturday evening in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district.
The water currents were reportedly strong as river Godavari is almost in spate. The country-boat lost control and hit a concrete pillar that is being erected to build a bridge and connect island village Pasuvulalanka to the mainland.
Four teams of the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, navy divers and local rescue teams searched for hours before calling off the search late night as it was totally dark. Search will resume in the morning.
Most of the passengers on the boat were school children. They would have had a school holiday being a second Saturday but they were called to school for a government afforestation program Vanam Manam.