Woman drowns, five missing in Raj boat mishap

Jaipur: A woman drowned and five others are missing after their boat capsized today in swollen Parban river in Jhalawar district of Rajasthan, with police saying that rescue operation had to be stopped, and would continue tomorrow.

Rescue teams have fished out the woman’s body which is yet to be identified, they said.

“Rescue teams are carrying out operation to search out the five missing persons. We will have to stop operation due to bad day light. Operation will continue tomorrow,” Superintendent of Police, Jhalawar, Anand Sharma said.

The boat carrying 15 people, including four boatmen, capsized near Aklera city in the district around noon today.

Of the 15 people, four swam out to safety while five others were rescued by the SDRF and police teams that were pressed into action immediately.

Teams were deployed at different spots to find out the six missing persons.

Sharma said that as per preliminary information, there were 17 passengers on the boat, which capsized due to strong water currents soon after it left for Jhalawar from Harnawada in Baran district.

But those rescued, whose condition is stated to be stable, later revealed that there were 15 people on board, he said.

The rivers and water bodies in Hadouti region have been overflowing since the area has been witnessing moderate to heavy rainfall since Monday noon.

—PTI