Krishna river boat capsize: Twenty people were killed after a boat capsized on Sunday in Krishna River near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. The tragedy has shocked the nation. Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi this morning paid condolence to the families who lost their loved ones in the Andhra Pradesh boat capsize incident. The Prime Minister’s Office posted on the micro-blogging incident: “Capsizing of a boat in the Krishna River is anguishing. My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives in this tragedy. Andhra Pradesh Government and @NDRFHQ have been working on rescue operations: PM @narendramodi”. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu visited the site today.

1. The death toll in the boat capsize incident has climbed to 20 following the recovering of three more bodies this morning, an official said.

2. State disaster response and fire services department’s director general N Satyanarayana said while two bodies were recovered by teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), another was fished out by personnel of his department. “There is a suspicion that four more persons are missing. We are pressing scuba divers into service to trace the missing persons. Since there is lot of water movement because rescue teams are at work, the bodies, if any, could have floated away. We have intensified the operation,” Satyanarayana said at the Ferry ghat.

3. It has been learnt that an overloaded boat carrying 38 people capsized yesterday close to the ‘Pavitra Sangamam’ (confluence point of rivers Krishna and Godavari) at Ferry village near Vijayawada.Till late last night, 16 bodies were fished out. Local fishermen rescued 15 people soon after the mishap.

4. The boat hit a sand mound inside the river while swerving around a curve. At the same time, the passengers in it moved to one side to take a closer look at the Pavitra Harati at the Sangamam and that led to the boat capsize, police said.

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5. The boat that capsized at Krishna River in Ibrahimpatnam mandal, Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, was reportedly a private one.

6. Vijayawada Police Commissioner Gautam Sawang said the private boat operator did not have a valid license. “There were no life jackets for passengers either.We have registered a criminal case against the operator and will take stern action,” Sawang told reporters last night. The police also launched a hunt for the missing boatman.

7. A survivor of the incident had alleged that the boat operator was trying to let in more passengers, which made the boat overloaded.

8. Two teams each comprising 30 NDRF personnel, a 45-member team of the State Disaster Rescue Force (SDRF) and 60 members of the Disaster Response and Fire Services Department have been roped into the rescue operation.

9. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa, Opposition leader Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, state BJP president K Hari Babu and others yesterday expressed grief over the incident.

10. Deputy CM China Rajappa had also announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased.