Bhubaneswar: Two persons died and seven others went missing as the boat in which they were sailing capsized in the Mahanadi river in Odisha's Jharsuguda district on Friday afternoon.
While the identities of the deceased and the missing persons were not ascertained till this report was filed, it is learned that the deceased were women and hailed from Chhattisgarh.
The missing persons include four women and three children.
As per reports, there is a temple on an islet in the middle of the Mahanadi river. About 50 people, including children and women, from Kharsia area in neighbouring Chhattisgarh state on Friday afternoon sailed their boat from Saradha Ghat under Lakhanpur block of Jharsuguda district to reach the temple. On the way to the temple, the boat capsized at a place called Banjipali in Bargarh district.
Local fishermen came to the rescue of the people trying to keep themselves afloat. They rescued over 40 people.
As per latest reports, rescuers were pressed into service to trace out the missing persons.
As many as five scuba divers were flown from Cuttack to the mishap site to assist the rescuers.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh for next of kin of each deceased.
