Infant dead, 7 missing in boat mishap in AP's Sileru river

 andhrapradesh | Written by : IANS Updated: Tue, May 25, 2021, 12:57 PM

Visakhapatnam, May 25 (IANS) A child has died, and seven persons are reported missing in a mishap that took place on the Sileru river, on Monday night.

According to police sources, the mishap occurred on the Andhra-Odisha border, when two country boats, carrying 11 migrant workers from Hyderabad, capsized in the river.

According to locals, initially one of the boats capsized and when people in the boat tried to clamber onto the second boat, the other boat also capsized.

Locals said that several migrant workers were making their way to their homes in Odisha. They reached Sileru, in Visakhapatnam district, around midnight, but due to non-availability of transport on account of covid lockdown, they decided to cross the river in country boats from there.

However, two of the boats capsized midway, and eight persons went missing, while three persons managed to swim back to shore. Later, the body of an infant was recovered.

Search operations for the remaining seven persons, are underway.