14 drown as boat capsizes

LUCKNOW - At least 14 people drowned when a boat capsized in the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district Monday, police said.

Around 65 people were in the boat when the accident took place near the Ujwalia bank.

“We have taken out 14 bodies with the help of divers and the river police,” district police chief V.K. Shekhar said over telephone from Ballia, some 300 km from here.

“Several people are still missing. The death toll is likely to go up,” District Magistrate Senthil Pandiyan told IANS.

According to police, those in the boat were going to perform rituals related to the ‘mundan’ ceremony of their children midstream.