The excise in the boat tragedy in Andhra Pradesh rose to 12 with the revival of four more bodies as well as an infant, on Monday morning, official sources said.
A.P Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy conducted an in-flight survey of the misfortune spot on Monday. He was accompanied by Home Minister M.Sucharita.
With 21 more people gone astray, wide-ranging search operations were being passed on by Indian Navy, NDRF, SDRF and AP state authorities.
While dead bodies of eight passengers were recovered from the river till Sunday night, another four were recovered at the accident spot at Kachhuluru in East Godavari district on Monday morning, sources in the SDMA here said.
Two helicopters were used in the search operation:
One of the helicopter of the Indian Navy and another of the ONGC have been hard-pressed into service while eight boats were being used by NDRF and SDRF staff to search for the people feared drowned.
top gates of the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage have been shut to avoid the possibility of the bodies from getting washed away downstream.
The boat ‘Royal Vasishta’ was on its way to the scenic Papikondalu tourist spot in the middle of the river when it met with the accident, they say that on colliding with a large rock formation, at Kachchuluru, about 200 km from here.
As many as 27 people survived the disaster and were rescued by villagers of Tutugunta.
The survivor was taken to the nearest government hospital in Rajamahendravaram for treatment.
Most of the tourists were from the neighboring state Telangana and state chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao declared an exgratia of ₹5 lakh each to the bereaved families from his State and deputed ministers to coordinate in the relief works and help the injured.
