Boat Accident in Buxar Claims 8 Lives
Patna: April 14, 2007
Eight persons, all women and children, were reported drowned when an overcrowded boat carrying back devotees to their villages from a temple in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh capsized in the Ganga in Buxar district on Saturday, officials in Buxar confirmed.
As reported, many devotees from Bihar had gone to the Mangla Bhawani temple in Ballia to offer prayers to mark Mesh Sankranti. After performing pujas, they were returning to their villages in Bihar when the boat, that was carrying approximately 50 people, lost balance and tipped over dumping all the passengers in the water.
While nearly 40 passengers survived the accident, 11 persons were not so lucky who drowned within minutes.
Local fishermen were able to pull out the dead bodies of three women and five children and efforts were on to recover other bodies.
An aggrieved Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh to the family of each victim, reports said.
Meanwhile, in yet another tragedy, a 17-year old student who had gone to take a swim in the Ganga near Danapur in Patna drowned.
The victim was identified as Rahul Kumar, the youngest son of retired CRPF jawan Sri Prasad, a resident of Saguna Mor.
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