Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, August 15
About 30 people are feared drowned in the Ganga as an unauthorised boat ferrying passengers from Patna to Vaishali got entangled in a 33000 kv high tension electricity wire and caught fire.
While 25 received burn injuries and we’re admitted in three different hospitals , some managed to swim to safety to Kuchchi Dargah Ghat .
However, survivors claimed 30 were still missing and apprehended they might have got drowned in the swollen Ganga which is flowing above danger mark.
The survivors who are admitted in Patna medical College hospital, Nalanda medical College hospital and Ganesh Shankar sewa Sadan hospital said as usual they were returning to their villages in Bidhupur in adjoining Vaishali district on a late night private boat.
Due to swollen Ganga water level was too high and the blade of the upper Rudder touched the 33000 kv capacity high tension power, boatman was the first to be hit and he plunged into the river. Boatman had received maximum impact of HT current, Boat too caught fire, said Ram Pravesh Rai, admitted in the hospital.
Sonelal Das, another survivor said boat was overcrowded as against 70, over 100 were on board and had paid Rs 20 per passenger against the normal rate of Rs 5 before floods.
As road communication is disrupted due to floods, people from Bidhupur in Vaishali opposite Patna City use boats for coming to the state capital for their daily wages. District administration did not impose ban on movement of private boats during floods.
Officer in charge of Nadi( river) police station said 25 were admitted in hospitals and those with minor injuries were discharged, jawans and divers of the disaster relief team have been engaged to locate bodies.
This was the second boat tragedy in the Ganga within 12 hours as two 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 remainded stranded on the tree for four hours .
In January, 2017 too, 24 people were drowned in the Ganga at Patna when the boat carrying passengers from the Makar Sankranti festival had capsized
