Ten persons, including eight children, died when the fishing boat they had boarded capsized near Nipania village in Kendrapara district on Wednesday evening.
Nine bodies have been recovered from waters of the Bay of Bengal while body of a six-year-old girl, who is believed to be dead, has not been retrieved.
As many as 55 villagers, mostly women and children, from Hasina village in neighbouring Jagatsinghpur district had gone to Hukitola, an unmanned island in Bay of Bengal and a popular heritage site, by a fishing boat for a New Year picnic on Wednesday.
While returning, the boat capsized near Nipania village. Hearing the shrieks of passengers, villagers rushed to the spot and rescued the passengers.
They also retrieved the bodies of the dead passengers.
Rescue operation
“The forest department, the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, the police and local people carried out the rescue operation and managed to fish out nine bodies. We are yet to find the body of missing girl. We apprehend she is dead,” Kendrapara District Magistrate Dasarathi Satpathy said on Thursday.
Expressing his grief over the boat tragedy, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday morning announced exgratia of ₹4 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and free treatment to the injured.
