Date:07/08/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/07/stories/2007080773990100.htm

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80 feared drowned in boat tragedy

K.Balchand

PATNA: About 80 people are feared drowned after a boat capsized near Shahpur Patori in Samastipur district of Bihar on Monday.

According to reports reaching here, the boat on its way to Samastipur from Patna with 100 people went down in the swollen Ganga river. At least 10 persons reportedly swam to safety.

Rescue operations were underway to trace the others. Most of them were labourers.

A boat accident in East Champaran claimed the lives of five women and a child. Four others were said to be missing. In Khagaria, one person drowned in a boat tragedy in the Ganga, while three others were untraceable.

Rickshaw puller Sunil Raut died on Monday, reportedly of starvation, in Dumra village of Sitamarhi district. Officials cremated him and handed Rs. 5000 to the bereaved family as compensation. Despite protests by the villagers, no post mortem was conducted. Officials reported that the death was caused by kala-azar.

In Muzaffarpur, Md. Zahir alleged that his mother Zubeida Begum died for want of succour.

The rush to grab airdropped food packets resulted in the death of one person in Darbhanga district, while another suffered injuries. With the Government yet to make its presence felt, incidents of looting of food grains and eatables are pouring in.

The flood situation has become serious in Gopalganj along the Bihar-Uttar Pradesh border. The efforts of villagers in Gopalganj to check the erosion of the Ahraulidan road by piling sandbags was being resisted by villagers of Kushinagar district.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil are scheduled to make an aerial survey of the flood affected areas on Tuesday. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has sought more food grains from the Centre.

Army personnel joined the relief operations in the badly affected districts of Begusarai and Samastipur. IAF helicopters continued to drop food packets.