65 still missing in AP boat mishap

The number of persons missing after Thursday's boat tragedy in river Krishna in Andhra Pradesh has been put at 65, even as Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on Friday announced a relief package for the families of the deceased.

Kurnool district collector M Dana Kishore told rediff.com: "Not a single body has been recovered so far. However, on the basis of village-level survey in the affected villages, the administration has found that there were 81 people in the ill-fated country boat (that capsized in Krishna river on Thursday afternoon). While 16 people swam to safety, 65 persons are still missing and feared drowned in the river."

"The accident site is about 70 km from Srisailam dam, towards the tail-end of backwaters. Since the river passes through a gorge at this point, the water currents are very swift," the Collector explained, referring to the high toll in the boat tragedy.

He said that most of the victims were women and children.

Chief Minister Dr Rajasekhar Reddy, who rushed to the spot on his return from a visit to Delhi, consoled the family members of the victims and announced a relief package for them.

"The government will provide ex-gratia of Rs two lakh for each family of a deceased adult and Rs one lakh for each family of a deceased child. Each affected family will be allotted two acres of land and a house under Indira Awaas Yojana. Free education will be provided to orphan children. Another Rs 50,000 will be given to eligible families under the Apathbandhu (group accident insurance) scheme," Dr Reddy said.

The chief minister announced that a bridge will be constructed on river Krishna near the accident site at a cost of Rs 70 crore. He also sanctioned a mechanized boat to ferry people through the river.  

Meanwhile, search and rescue operations continued on both sides of the accident site in Kurnool and Mahbubnagar districts. District collectors and superintendents of police of the two districts supervised the rescue operations undertaken in the river with the help of expert divers and mechanized boats.

Some divers from the Indian Navy have also been deployed to locate and fish out the bodies.