Boat capsize toll increases to 20

The death toll in the boat capsize incident in Bhagirathi river rose to 20 today with the fishing out of the body of a middle-aged woman.
Nadia District Magistrate Vijay Bharti said the body of 50-year-old Shephali Mondal, a resident of Shantipur, was found in the river during a search operation this morning.
The body of septuagenarian Taranga Debnath, who was thought to have been missing after the mishap, was identified among those (bodies) recovered yesterday, Bharti added.
Search operations for other missing persons are still on by Nadia and Burdwan district administrations.
"The search operations will continue till we are satisfied that nobody is missing. There can be people missing about whom no report has been filed. So we need to continue the search operation for that," Burdwan SP Gaurab Sharma told PTI.

Twenty people, including six children and nine women, have so far been fished out from Bhagirathi river.

The government has announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of the kin of each deceased.
The boat was ferrying about 55 people, much above its capacity, and overturned in the river when it was on its way back to Shantipur in Nadia district carrying passengers from a fair at Kalna in Burdwan district across the bank.
Meanwhile, the police have initiated a probe into the incident, based on complaints of Kalna municipality against the ferry service authorities.
A violent protest had erupted in Nadia district following the mishap with agitators alleging delay in search operation.

Several boats were torched and police fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets to quell the mob during the violence on Sunday.
Fifteen people were arrested yesterday in connection with the violence.