New Delhi - Arab Today
At least 24 people drowned and another 12 were missing after an overloaded boat capsized in the Ganga River in eastern India.
The dead included men, women and children who had gone to a kite flying festival organized on the sandbar across the ghats. The boat, designed to carry 25 people, was carrying at least 50 people when it overturned.
Seven people were rescued, most of them having ingested water while struggling to come to shore, the Hindustan times reported.
The administration had run a free ferry service to take people to festival site in the morning. But as it became colder in the evening, people flocked to whatever boats were available to return, eyewitnesses said.
India witnesses a lot of drowning and boat accidents mainly due to overload or worn out boats conditions.
Source: QNA