Dhenkanal: The death toll in the boat capsize at Karamula ghat of river Brahmani under Gondia police limits in this district rose to four Tuesday with the recovery of three more bodies.
Monday, a girl Rubina Rout (17) died in the district headquarters hospital after she was rescued in a critical condition from the river.
A joint team of Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire personnel recovered the bodies of three more persons by Tuesday evening while two more are still missing. The missing children are Bebina Rout, sister of Rubina, and 13-year-old Kalia Mohanty.
The recovered bodies were of Satya Narayan Swain (9), a student of Class-IV and the only son of Subhash Swain, Sipun Mohanty (8), a student of Class-III and son of Prakash Mohanty, and Sagarika Mallick, a student of Class-IX and daughter of Sridhar Mallick of Surapratappur village. Police sent the bodies for post-mortem while a pall of gloom descended on the village over the death of the kids.
The boatman accused of ferrying people on a private boat instead of a government boat auctioned for the purpose is absconding, said collector Roopa Roshan Sahoo.
The boatman is also accused of collecting fare from people in the middle of the river leaving the oar instead of safely rowing the boat to the ghat. As a result, the boat capsized in the river.
Bhuban police registered a case over a complaint lodged by Rubina’s uncle and launched a manhunt to arrest the boatman.
Meanwhile, the district administration under the provisions of state relief code gave away Rs 4 lakh compensation to each of the bereaved families.
The collector accompanied by additional district magistrate Yudhistir Nayak and Kamakhyanagar sub-collector Manoj Behera visited Surapratappur and gave away the compensation amount to the bereaved families while supervising the rescue operations in the river.
While six persons were missing in the river 30 persons were rescued after the incident. Meanwhile, state relief commissioner Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra has asked the administration to submit an inquiry report on the boat tragedy. PNN
