Death toll touches 3 in Mahananda boat capsize tragedy

The death toll in the boat capsize incident in Mahananda river has climbed to three after another body was recovered earlier in the day.

A boat carrying 35 to 40 passengers from Malda to Bihar's Katihar on Thursday night capsized at Jagadishpur.

District Magistrate of Malda, Kaushik Bhattacherjee told ANI, "The NDRF teams have recovered one more body. The death toll touched three this morning."

On being asked about the missing people, he said, "According to the locals, around 30-35 people were travelling on the boat. We have rescued around 28 of them. The boat was going to Bihar so we are also trying to contact the Bihar State administrations to get the exact number."

"The teams are carrying out the rescue operation and few are still missing," he added.

The passengers were travelling in the boat from Jagadishpur jetty to Bihar to take part in a boat race competition.

After the incident, district police and civil administrations were rushed to the spot along with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) jawans.