LUCKNOW : At least six people, including women and children, went missing after a boat carrying around nine passengers capsized in the Yamuna River in Hamirpur on Wednesday evening while villagers were returning after collecting muskmelons and cucumbers from a river island, officials said.The incident took place in Kutubpur Patiya hamlet under Bhauli gram panchayat in the Kurara police station area.According to officials, a group of villagers had crossed the Yamuna river in a small boat to reach an island located in the middle of the river to pluck melons and cucumbers. While returning at around 6 pm, the overcrowded boat, carrying 10 people including the boatman, reportedly overturned in deep waters midstream, throwing all passengers into the river.The boatman, identified as Dheeru, managed to rescue three persons — Vishnu, Rinku and Parul — from drowning.However, six others, identified as Rani, Akanksha, Brajrani, Lavayansh, Gorelal and Aditya, remained missing till late evening.Soon after the accident, local residents gathered on the riverbank while police and district administration officials rushed to the spot. Divers were pressed into service to trace the missing persons, though rescue efforts were hampered due to darkness.The rescued persons were admitted to the community health centre in Kurara for treatment.Officials said the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had been alerted and its team was expected to reach Hamirpur soon to intensify the rescue operation.Additional DG, Prayagraj Zone, Jyoti Narayan, said that three were rescued and search for the missing was underway.District Magistrate Abhishek Goyal and Superintendent of Police Mrigank Shekhar Pathak also reached the site and directed deployment of additional police personnel and rescue teams along the riverbank.Meanwhile, CM Yogi Adityanath took cognisance of the incident and directed senior police and administrative officials to carry out relief and rescue operations on a war footing.CM instructed officials to ensure that the missing persons were traced at the earliest and warned that any negligence in the rescue operation would not be tolerated.He also directed senior district officials to personally monitor the ongoing rescue efforts and ensure all possible assistance to the affected families.The district administration has also been asked to investigate the cause of the accident and put in place measures to prevent such incidents in the future.
