Patna, Aug 17 (IANS): Three women died, while two others were critically injured, and one person was missing after their boat capsized on the Tilawe river in Bihar's Saharsa district on Tuesday, police said.
The incident was reported from Lagma Baltod village under Simri Bakhtiyarpur police station.
The deceased were identified as Gulshan Khatoon, 35, Nabisa Khatoon, 40, and Savita Kumari, 18, while one person was missing. The injured were admitted to the Saharsa Sadar hospital.
Simri Bakhtiyarpur SHO Sudhakar Kumar, who immediately reached at Lagma Baltod Ghat after receiving information about the accident, said: "Around one dozen persons including three women were crossing the Tilawe river around 1 p.m. when their boat capsized due to strong winds and waves in the river. Six passengers managed to swim out while the local divers managed to rescue two other persons."
"We have called the SDRF team for the rescue operation to trace one more person missing in this incident," he added.
The flood situation is worsening in Bihar with more than 28 districts affected.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday conducted an aerial survey of Bhagalpur, Begusarai and Khagaria districts, and also visited some of the flood shelter homes in Matihani in Begusarai.
A large number of flood-affected people assembled at the place after Nitish Kumar reached there. The Chief Minister also announced Rs 15,000 to mothers who would deliver baby girls in shelter homes and Rs 10,000 to those delivering baby boys.
Leader of Opposition in assembly Tejashwi Yadav also visited flood-affected Vaishali district by boat. He went to Terasia panchayat under his assembly constituency Raghopur to meet the family of two children who died in a boat accident a few days ago, and also announced Rs 25,000 each as ex-gratia to their next of kin.