18 picnickers still missing in Bengal boat capsize

A team of divers were scouring the Roopnarayan river today to locate 18 missing passengers of a boat which sank in West Bengal's East Midnapore district.

The boat carrying 38 picknickers from Ultadanga in Kolkata capsized yesterday in midstream. Nine people were rescued and some swam to safety. However, 18 people are still missing.

"Out of the 18 missing people, seven are children," district magistrate Choten D Lama told PTI over telephone.

"The rescue operations have been hampered due to strong currents and whirlpools in the river. The boat has also not been located," she said.

Divers from the Coast Guard, Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), Kolkata Police, National Disaster Response Force and local villagers were looking for the missing persons, Lama said.

The district magistrate said that reports that a body has been found were not true.

Last night, railway minister Mamata Banerjee rushed to Kolaghat and asked minister of state for shipping Mukul Roy to send divers from the Kolkata Port Trust.