Eleven youths’ corpses were fished out after two boats – carrying 19 people and tied to each other for the purpose of Ganesh idol immersion – capsized in approximately 20 feet of water in the wee hours on Friday amid incessant precipitation at Khatlapura in the Madhya Pradesh capital, State Disaster Response Force personnel said.
Six persons were rescued and a search is underway for two more but the presence of icons, mud, bamboo, etc was hampering the operation. “A festival committee’s members were present on board the vessels,” Public Relations Minister PC Sharma told the press on the scene. The district administration announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each. The bodies were conveyed to Hamidia Hospital and those saved are also undergoing treatment there. The boats were being brought out with the help of a crane. (UNI)
