Jharkhand boat tragedy: Six more bodies found, toll rises to 14

Days after a boat capsized in Barakar river in Jharkhand’s Jamtara district, six more bodies were recovered by the National Disaster Responce Force (NDRF) on Monday, taking the toll in the accident to 14, officials said.

Chief minister Hemant Soren, during the day, announced an ex gratia of ₹4 lakh each to the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the accident.

“Six bodies were recovered today… taking the total bodies to 14” Jamtara deputy commissioner Faiz Ahmed Mumtaz said.

“The first body was recovered on Saturday (two days after the incident), seven on Sunday and six on Monday. Five people who were on the boat were rescued by the locals the same day,” deputy commissioner Faiz Aq Ahmed Mumtaz said.

While it appears that all persons on the boat had been accounted for, we are getting the figures “double checked”, the DC said.

The boat capsized on Thursday upstream of the Maithon dam while ferrying passengers from Barbendiya ghat to Birgaon. Barbendiya ghat is on the southern bank of the river falling under Nirsa assembly segment while Birgaon is on the northern bank in Jamatara assembly constituency limits.

Officials had earlier said that the incident site is in the backwaters of Maithon dam and spread over a huge area, thus making it difficult to trace the missing people.

Announcing a monetary compensation, Soren said: “The government will provide monetary compensation of ₹4 lakh…the government would soon get a feasibility study done for construction of a bridge at the location.”