A day after Bihar boat capsize, four bodies recovered; search on for more

Four bodies were fished out from the Bagmati river on Friday, after more than 24 hours of search operation following a boat capsize in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district, a senior official said.

Of the four deceased, two are children.

Divers and NDRF and SDRF personnel were continuing with the search for nine others - including two young boys and three teenage girls - who are still missing.

Muzaffarpur District Magistrate Pranav Kumar said the boat carrying around 30 people overturned in the river at around 10 am on Thursday.

While 20 people were rescued within a few hours of the accident, others were swept away by the current and the bodies of four of them were recovered only on Friday, Kumar said.

The deceased were identified as Ajmal (4), Wasim (11), Pintu Sahani (22) and Shamshul (40).

Instructions are in place from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to the disaster management department for providing an ex-gratia to the next of kin of each deceased.

A team of doctors is also camping near the ghat, and a facility for conducting post-mortem examinations has been set up there.

"Senior officials of the district administration are supervising the entire operation," the DM said.