Bhubaneswar, Feb 9 (IANS) At least three picnickers drowned and more than a dozen others went missing when a boat capsized Sunday in the Hirakud Dam reservoir in Odisha’s Sambalpur district, police said.
The boat which went down in the Hirakud dam, about 350 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar, was carrying more than 90 people who were mostly picnickers, against a capacity of 70.
The boat also lacked basic safety measures.
“Rescue operation is underway. Three bodies have been recovered so far. Nobody knows the exact number of missing people,” state’s Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Mohapatra told IANS.
On the basis of inputs from locals, he apprehended the toll could rise to 10-15.