10 people went missing after a boat they were travelling in capsized in the Godavari river near Andhra Pradesh’s Pasuvula Lanka village on Saturday evening.
Local residents said the accident occurred around 4.30 pm when the boat hit the pillar of a partially constructed bridge and overturned into waters that had turned turbulent due to the opening of sluice gates at the upstream Dowleshwaram barrage.
It was transporting around 30 people, mostly students, from Talarivaripalem Lanka to Pasuvula Lanka.
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Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu initially told media persons in Vijayawada that while 20 people managed to swim to safety, 10 were missing. “Teams of the National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force have been pressed into service to carry out rescue operations. The district administration is supervising their activities,” he said.
According to local residents, boats are the only mode of transport for people to go from one island to another on the Godavari. Although the state government began constructing a bridge across the river last year, the work is yet to be completed.
On May 16, as many as 20 people – mostly tribals – died in a similar boat accident on the Godavari near Mantoor village.
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