By IANS
Samastipur (Bihar) : No rescue operation has been launched to save about 75 people who are feared drowned after their boat capsized in Bihar’s flooded Samastipur district, villagers alleged Tuesday.
Nearly 100 people, mostly labourers and farmers, were Monday trying to cross the swollen Ganges near Harpur-Saibdabad area, about 100 km from Patna, when the boat sank due to overloading and strong water current.
About a dozen people managed to swim to safety while villagers scooped out four bodies. But about 70 to 75 people are still missing.
Panic-stricken families of those feared drowned Tuesday said they were still waiting for the arrival of local officials, boats and motorboats for the start of rescue operations.
Sambhu Paswan, the brother of one the men who drowned, said: “The local administration has done nothing to trace the missing. We fear that most of those who drowned are dead by now due to the apathy of the local administration.”
Government officials in Patna insisted that rescue operations had been launched but villagers disputed the claim.
“The officials are lying. There is no activity to rescue or trace those feared dead,” said Raju Singh, a local NGO activist.
Locals alleged that some officials, including district magistrate N. Sarwana Kumar, rushed to the accident site, spent a few hours and left.
Another boat, carrying 26 laboueres, capsized in floodwaters in Samastipur Monday. Two people drowned while the others managed to swim to safety.
Large parts of Samastipur have been inundated by floodwaters. Nearly one million people who are marooned in eight blocks of the district are yet to get any relief material and food packets.