Officials and divers search for missing bodies in the Garhi reservoir on Saturday. Picture by Arjun Arnav

Munger, Nov. 1: Six bodies were fished out after a boat carrying 17 people capsized in the Garhi reservoir around 5.30am this morning.

The four ill-fated families had undertaken the trip to pay obeisance and offer “chaddar” at the old mazaar, situated on the western part of the reservoir. The water body spreads across a radius of 3km.

The incident occurred under the jurisdiction of the Khaira police station of Jamui, around 250km from Munger divisional headquarters, the police said.

The deputy inspector-general of police (Munger range), S.P. Sukla told The Telegraph: “Six persons drowned, while 11 swam to safety. All the deceased hailed from Nawada district. Senior officials of Jamui district reached the site to supervise the rescue operations.”

“The police have identified all six bodies that have been fished out with the help of local divers from the bed of the reservoir,” the sub-inspector of Khaira police station, Manoj Kumar Jha, said over phone.

The deceased included Mohammad Wasim (22), son of Mohammad Muslim, (resident of Dhamni village, Kanhkash Tarannum (8) daughter of Mumtaz Ansari, resident of Pachambha village, Md Rustam (22), son of Md Abul, a resident of Madurapur, Md Motahir Ansari (6), son of Md Mumtaz Ansari, resident of Pachambha, Shahjahan Khatoon (28), wife of Md Mumtaz Ansari and Md Yasin (13), son of Md Akbar, a resident of Madurapur village in Nawada.

On the reason for the mishap, Jha said: “The boat being used by the devotees was very small. Fishermen usually use it. As there were 17 people on board, it capsized because of overloading. Further investigations would reveal more.”

The officer added: “When devotees visit the mazar, it usually takes 15km by road, so the families decided to go there in the shortest possible time by taking the 1km route across the water body.”

The bodies have been sent to Jamui hospital for a post-mortem.