A pleasure trip turned into tragedy for many families as a boat with over 60 tourists capsized in swollen Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari district on Sunday, killing 12 persons while at least 30 went missing.
As many as 27 passengers either swam to safety or were rescued by people from a nearby village.
The accident occurred in Katchuluru village near popular tourist spot Papikonda. Rescue workers pulled out 10 bodies.
Rescue operations involving a helicopter of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), a team of deep divers from the Indian Navy and two teams each of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were on.
Six teams of fire fighting personnel with eight boats were also participating in the rescue work.
“A specialized deep divers team with Side Scan Sonar equipment from Uttarakhand is landing at Vijayawada by tomorrow (MondaY) for retrieving bodies from river,” said an official statement on Sunday night.
The boat was carrying 63 tourists and nine crew members.
