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At least three people died and four others went missing after a boat carrying 14 passengers capsized in the river Ganga in Bihar’s Samastipur district on Thursday morning, police said.

Three deaths have been confirmed so far and four persons are still missing, say authorities. (Representative/PTI)The incident took place around 5.45 am and the rescue teams said seven passengers were rescued, while search operations for the missing people continued till late in the evening.

“Three deaths have been confirmed so far and four persons are still missing,” Mohiuddin Nagar circle officer Brijesh Kumar Dwivedi said, adding that the deceased included a woman.

According the district administration, the 14 passengers, all residents of Masoomganj Bind Toli under Barh police station in Patna district, were crossing the Ganga to Sultanpur Diara in Mohiuddin Nagar for agricultural work and were returning to Umanath Ghat with vegetables from parwal fields when the accident occurred.

Patna district magistrate SM Thiyagarajan said the boat carrying 14 people capsized due to strong winds and added that teams from Samastipur and Patna district administrations are jointly carrying out rescue operations.

“Through the joint efforts of local divers, NDRF and SDRF teams, three bodies have been recovered so far. Search and rescue operations are underway to locate and recover the bodies of the remaining four missing individuals,” Barh SDPO-1 Ram Krishna said. He informed that the boat was a small dinghy whose motor had reportedly malfunctioned and stopped working properly, after which it overturned amid strong winds.