Five drown, one missing after boat capsizes in Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur

Another boat capsize case has been reported from Uttar Pradesh. A boat carrying nine people and the boatman lost balance in the middle of its ride through the Yamuna river on Wednesday evening, around 7 PM. While three were rescued by the boatman, six including children are missing. Search operations are underway.

Boatman Dheeru managed to rescue three people -- Vishnu, Rinku and Parul. The remaining six -- Akanksha (9), Rani (9), Brijrani (25), Labhyansh (5), Mahesh (6), and Aditya (11) -- were missing, police said.

Later on Thursday, rescue teams recovered the bodies of Akanksha, Labhyansh, Mahesh, Rani and Brijrani.

The incident took place in Kutubpur Patiya hamlet under Bhauli gram panchayat in the Kurara police station area when the boat was returning from a river island.

SHO Brijesh Kumar said that due to heavy rain since the morning, teams are facing difficulties in the rescue operation. One Aditya is still missing and attempts are on to trace him.

Taking cognisance of the incident, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called for rescue efforts to be intensified to trace the missing persons at the earliest.

He directed the district administration to investigate the cause of the accident and put in place effective measures to prevent such incidents in future.

District Magistrate Abhishek Goyal said a search for the missing is being conducted by teams of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force.

BJP MLA from Hamirpur Manoj Prajapati said, "We will ensure compensation to the affected families in accordance with the rules and submit a report to the chief minister on the incident," he said.

In April, over 15 people lost their lives when a boat capsized in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. Around 12 people were rescued by the divers.

(With PTI inputs)