Mathura, 12 April. Three more bodies were recovered on Sunday morning, two days after the boat capsized in Yamuna river in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, taking the death toll to 13. A senior police officer gave this information. According to the police, three people are still missing and the search is on. 10 people aboard drowned when their boat capsized during boating in Vrindavan on Friday, while 22 people were saved in time by sailors and divers.

Police said that on Saturday, a body was recovered near Devraha Baba Ghat, one kilometer away from the incident site. Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) Suresh Chandra Rawat said, “On Sunday morning, the body of Rishabh Sharma was recovered near Akrur Ghat, about three kilometers away from the spot, and the body of Dinky Bansal was recovered near Devraha Baba Ghat, one kilometer away.” Rawat said that till now the number of people who lost their lives in this boat accident has reached 13.

He told that Pankaj Malhotra, Yash Bhalla and Monica are still missing, their search is going on. The devotees who came in two buses from Jagraon in Punjab were boating in the Yamuna river in Vrindavan on Friday afternoon. Most of these devotees were going in two boats to the other side of the river to visit the Samadhi of Devraha Baba situated in Mant area. According to sources, a boat owner and sailor Pappu alias Dauji was driving the boat at high speed. It is said that the devotees asked him several times to reduce his speed, but he ignored them saying that this is his daily work.

Police said that during this time the boat collided with some structures of Pipa bridge in the river and overturned, due to which the devotees on board started drowning. Hearing their screams, local people, sailors and divers reached the spot and started relief operations. 10 bodies were taken out immediately after the accident, while 22 people were rescued safely. Additional Superintendent of Police Rawat said that along with the district administration, local police, teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are also busy searching for the missing devotees.

The search operation is facing difficulties due to the strong flow of Yamuna and greater depth at the ghats. Mant area Deputy Superintendent of Police Sandeep Singh said that the search operation is being conducted in an area of ​​about 20 square kilometers by dividing the Yamuna river into seven sectors from Keshi Ghat to Gokul Barrage. He said that on the instructions of Deputy Inspector General of Police Shailesh Kumar Pandey, the responsibility of each sector has been handed over to one police station in-charge.