About 30 people are feared to have drowned in the Ganga as an unauthorised boat ferrying passengers from Patna to Vaishali got entangled in a 33,000 kv high tension electricity wire and caught fire.
While some managed to swim to safety to Kuchchi Dargah Ghat, around 25 individuals received burn injuries and were admitted to three different hospitals. Survivors claim that around 30 people are still missing, voicing concern that they may havedrowned in the swollen Ganga which is flowing above danger mark.
With roadways disrupted due to floods, people from Bidhupur in Vaishali opposite Patna City use boats for coming to the state capital for their daily work. The District administration had not imposed a ban on movement of private boats during floods.
Officer in charge of Nadi police station said that 25 people were admitted in hospitals and those with minor injuries had been discharged. Jawans and divers belonging of the disaster relief team have been engaged to locate bodies.
The survivors have been admitted to Patna Medical College Hospital, Nalanda Medical College Hospital and Ganesh Shankar Sewa Sadan Hospital. They said that they had been returning to their villages in Bidhupur in adjoining Vaishali district as per usual on a late night private boat. However, with the Ganga water level being too high, the blade of the upper Rudder had touched the 33000 kv capacity high tension power section.
The boatman was the first to be hit and had plunged into the river. But while the boatman had received the maximum impact, others were not spared. The boat had consequently caught fire, said Ram Pravesh Rai who remains admitted in the hospital.
Another survivor, Sonelal Das, said that the boat was overcrowded. While 70 passengers would be an acceptable limit, more than 100 were on board. They had also paid Rs 20 per passenger against the normal rate of Rs 5 that had exited before the floods.
This was the second boat tragedy in the Ganga within 12 hours. In the earlier incident, two people had drowned as the boat carrying passengers, mostly government employees, capsized in the river near Hajipur. Others could be saved as they found safety in the huge tree and remained stranded on the tree for four hours.
In January 2017 too, 24 people had drowned in the Ganga at Patna when the boat carrying passengers from the Makar Sankranti festival capsized.
