Naugachia: Bhagalpur divisional commissioner Rajesh Kumar has ordered the Naugachia sub-divisional officer (SDO) to conduct a probe into the boat capsize that occurred on Sunday evening.

On Sunday, a boat carrying 15 people in the Kosi hinterland of Ramnagar Bind Toli under the jurisdiction of Naugachia police station capsized because of gusty winds. Though the lives of seven were luckily saved, eight people, including a youth and seven young boys and girls, went missing.

According to Naugachia police district superintendent of police (DSP) Nidhi Rani, seven passengers on the boat - Lakshman Mahato (22), Soni Kumari (12), Khusbu (9), Gunja (9), Nilesh (6), all from Nargaha Ramnagar Bind Toli, along with Munna (8), his brother Raju (6) from Tintanga Gopalpur and Rita Kumari (10) of Munger went missing. But the joint team of NDRF and SDRF managed to fish out the body of Lakshman Mahato from the river bed. Search operations are on to trace the seven others.

The DSP said an NDRF team from the Supaul base camp had joined the SDRF team on Monday night in the operations. "Till this (Monday) morning, the weather was inclement. The swift current of river Kosi hampered the operations. Both the teams have moved 7-8 km ahead of the capsize site in anticipation that the current may have carried away the bodies," she admitted. The boat man is also missing.

The condition of seven others, who were also in the boat and were luckily saved, was stated to be normal at the sub divisional hospital here.

Divisional commissioner Rajesh Kumar on Monday ordered Naugachia SDO Mukesh Kumar to probe the incident. Kumar said it was a failure of the district transport authorities, as in earlier meetings, the department had been asked to have strict control over the illegal ferry services on the rivers by country boats without obtaining proper licence.

All the victims were displaced people whose ancestral land had earlier vanished into the Kosi riverbed and they somehow managed land to settle their huts on both sides of the river, the southern side falling in the jurisdiction of Bhagalpur district, while the northern parts in Purnea district.

One of the survivors, Vikhari Mahato (20), narrated the incident. "Actually, I was dropping off the wedding guests on the southern side of the river at Ramnagar Bindtoli. I lost my sister-in law, Rita (10)," said the youth.

The lack of proper communication in the Ganga and Kosi diara hinterland of the region leaves people with no choice but to board small rickety boats, putting their lives at risk.