Six people, including children, went missing after a boat capsized in the Yamuna River in Hamirpur, while three others were rescued in a tragic incident that occurred on Wednesday evening, police said.
The incident occurred when nine people, apart from the boatman, were traveling from a river island in Kutubpur Patiya hamlet under Bhauli gram panchayat in the area of Kurara police station. The boat lost its balance in the middle of the sea around 7 pm in the evening, capsized and dumped all the passengers into the sea, officials said.
Boatman Dheeru was able to save three people, Vishnu, Rinku and Parul, but six others are still missing. Police confirmed that the missing persons consisted of Akanksha (9), Rani (9), Brijrani (25), Labhyansh (5), Mahesh (6) and Aditya (11).
Rescue operations were immediately started thereafter. The team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed for search and rescue operations for the missing persons, said Abhishek Goyal, District Magistrate. Riverbank and surrounding areas are being searched.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken cognisance of the accident and instructed district officials to investigate the accident in detail to find out the reasons. He also directed the officers to conduct rescue operations on war footing and to give all possible help to the affected people and the families.
The Chief Minister said that failure to act during the rescue would not be compromised and requested the active involvement of high-ranking officials for the smooth conduct of the rescue work.
Local BJP MLA Manoj Prajapati said the search for the missing people was being stepped up and the compensation will be given to the affected families as per government norms after an assessment of the situation.