Jharsuguda boat tragedy: Five more bodies recovered; toll rises to 7

Jharsuguda: The death toll rose to seven including three minor boys and three women in a tragic boat mishap in Mahanadi River in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district with five more bodies recovered today.

The ODRAF and fire services personnel recovered the bodies during a search operation in the Hirakud Dam here. The search operation is underway to trace one missing person.

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

According to reports, more than 50 passengers were onboard when the boat capsized in the Hirakud Dam near Sarada ghat within Rengali police limits on Friday afternoon. While the fishermen managed to rescue 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 five more bodies today morning.

Expressing grief over deaths in boat tragedy, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday had 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.