Godavari boat tragedy: Indian Navy helicopter finds no bodies or debris

An Indian Navy helicopter on Monday completed a search mission and found no survivors or bodies in the aftermath of the Godavari boat tragedy. Even the debris of the boat was not sighted, the Navy said.

"A UH 3H helicopter took off from Rajmundary Airport at 7.30 am. It carried out multiple searches from the accident site at Devipatnam to Pollavaram for 3 hours and 15 minutes. No survivors or bodies were sighted as well as no debris of the boat was sighted. UH-3H landed back at 1100 hrs," the Indian Navy said.

"Chetak helicopter has now taken off for next search," it added.

In a major tragedy, 11 people died on Sunday afternoon when a tourist boat carrying 61 persons on board capsized in the Godavari River near Devipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia for the bereaved families.

Reddy had directed National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Navy and ONGC helicopters to carry out the rescue operations on war-footing.