PM condoles Andhra boat tragedy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid condolence to families who lost their loved ones in the Andhra Pradesh boat capsise incident.

The Prime Minister's Office posted on the micro-blogging incident: "Capsizing of a boat in the Krishna River is anguishing. My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives in this tragedy. Andhra Pradesh Government and @NDRFHQ have been working on rescue operations: PM @narendramodi"

Meanwhile, the district collector confirmed to ANI that 17 bodies were recovered and that an effort to trace the remaining missing persons was underway.

"At least 17 bodies have been recovered so far. We are trying to trace the remaining missing persons. The government has appointed a senior committee to inquire. The police has also registered a case against four to five persons out of which one has been arrested," Krishna District Collector B. Lakshmi Kantam told ANI.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Deputy Commandant, Santosh Kumar, said, "A rescue operation has been continuing since yesterday with four of our teams, while divers are also making efforts to trace the missing people."

The injured were brought to Andhra hospital in Vijayawada earlier in the day.

The state government yesterday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the deceased.

As many as 41 people, including the boat driver, were in the boat at the time of the incident.

32 of the victims belonging to the Ongole town were on a picnic tour.

The boat that capsised at Krishna River in Ibrahimpatnam mandal, Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, was reportedly a private one.

The boat turned turtle when it was about to reach the shore. The bodies were handed over to the victims' families after postmortem.

A survivour in the incident had alleged that the boat operator was trying to let in more passengers, which made the boat overloaded.