Boat disaster toll mounts to 28

• At least three persons are still missing
• Rahul visits boat tragedy site in Odisha

Bhubaneswar/Sambalpur: The toll in Sunday's capsize of an overloaded motorised boat, carrying mostly picnickers, in Odisha's Hirakud reservoir rose to 28 on Monday, while three persons were still missing.

Though 11 bodies were recovered on Sunday, the others were spotted by two Odisha Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) personnel with high resolution binoculars from a state government helicopter and retrieved by scuba divers, firefighters and ODRAF men this morning, official sources said. Among the 28 victims were 14 women, three girls, 10 men and a boy. Three persons are still missing. Among the casualties were Dinesh Tiwari and his wife Mina from Sambalpur, while their daughter was still missing. A 60-year-old man C Singh Chandel, his wife Santosh Kumari and their daughter-in-law also perished, as also three sisters Srishti, Purba and Tania, while their parents survived.

Another woman, Sushmita Jena and her minor daughter drowned. Six bodies were retrieved from the sunken boat by scuba divers, while the ODRAF men in the helicopter helped to locate others, Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra said. The search would continue till all the bodies were recovered, he said. About 80 persons were rescued yesterday. While the capacity of the boat was 100 passengers, there were 144 persons on board, sources said.

Besides the picnickers, around 30 local people, some with motorcycles, were also on board the boat from Tilla ghat.