VARANASI/PRAYAGRAJ: Three women drowned in the Ganga when a boat carrying 30 people overturned near Maldepur in Ballia on Monday morning, officials said adding that of the 27 people rescued by boatmen and locals, five had to be admitted to hospital.
In Prayagraj, two Madhya Pradesh youths who had gone to take holy dip in the Ganga drowned while a boy was rescued by the boatmen.
Ballia district magistrate Ravindra Kumar and SP R K Nayyar, who camped at Maldepur after the incident to monitor the rescue operation, said three bodies had been fished out of the river while five persons were rushed to the district hospital for treatment after being rescued.
“All other persons on the boat have been saved,” said Nayyar, adding that the boatman and his son had been held for interrogation.
Thousands of people had gathered at Maldepur ghat to perform the mundan (head tonsuring) rituals of children from their families on Monday morning. As per the tradition, they were riding the boats to sail across the river and return as part of a ritual. Around 30 members of about five families boarded one of the boats available at the ghat. Nayyar said before the boat could reach midstream its engine failed and because of the strong current of the river stream, the boat was pushed towards a pontoon bridge. He said it was being assumed that to avoid being hit by the bridge, all the people on the boat moved to one side, causing it to overturn. On seeing people falling off the boat and drowning, locals raised alarm after which people present at the ghat and on the pontoon bridge and other boatmen jumped in to rescue.
Police too reached the spot and engaged divers in the rescue mission.
In Prayagraj, two Madhya Pradesh youths who had gone to take holy dip in the Ganga drowned while a boy was rescued by the boatmen.
Ballia district magistrate Ravindra Kumar and SP R K Nayyar, who camped at Maldepur after the incident to monitor the rescue operation, said three bodies had been fished out of the river while five persons were rushed to the district hospital for treatment after being rescued.
“All other persons on the boat have been saved,” said Nayyar, adding that the boatman and his son had been held for interrogation.
Thousands of people had gathered at Maldepur ghat to perform the mundan (head tonsuring) rituals of children from their families on Monday morning. As per the tradition, they were riding the boats to sail across the river and return as part of a ritual. Around 30 members of about five families boarded one of the boats available at the ghat. Nayyar said before the boat could reach midstream its engine failed and because of the strong current of the river stream, the boat was pushed towards a pontoon bridge. He said it was being assumed that to avoid being hit by the bridge, all the people on the boat moved to one side, causing it to overturn. On seeing people falling off the boat and drowning, locals raised alarm after which people present at the ghat and on the pontoon bridge and other boatmen jumped in to rescue.
Police too reached the spot and engaged divers in the rescue mission.