Nikhil Prakash, a documentary filmmaker, saved the lives of three boys by pulling them off the boat that capsized on the Ganga - before the ill-fated vessel sailed from the Sabbalpur Diara on Saturday.

Nikhil, 40, had gone to the tourism department's kite festival at the diara with his wife, son, and a neighbour's daughter. They were all about to board the boat when Nikhil realised it was already overloaded. He forbade his family from boarding and also pulled out three young boys, who were angry at his intervention, from the boat.

"I told the angry boys that the boat was overcrowded and it could sink but they were like 'let us drown, why are you taking the pain'. Then, a lady with a baby on her lap boarded the boat. My wife tried to stop the lady from boarding but she did not pay heed to her request," Nikhil said over phone from Delhi.

Nikhil, who lives near Patna Law College, directed the documentary film Nalanda Mahavihara, which the Archaeological Survey of India had sent to Unesco as part of the dossier for the World Heritage tag on the ancient varsity.

As soon as the boat docked at the diara, many young boys had started jumping onboard, Nikhil said.

"Within seconds, one side of the boat was filled with around 25 people; the same number of people had filled the other portion of the boat. There were also around 10-15 people who were sitting in the middle portion of the boat. I was also going to board the boat but when I saw it was already overcrowded, I felt uneasy. I told my family members that we won't board the boat," Nikhil said.

He said people were in panic as there was a huge queue for boarding the government steamers, sparking a scramble for any available boat, when the ill-fated boat came along.

"Even though the boatman had refused to take more than 25 people because that was the boat's capacity, no one listened to him and a quarrel ensued between the boatman and the boys. Some of the young boys, who had not boarded the boat and were friends of those who had boarded the boat, pushed the boat few metres into the river, forcing the boatman to start the motor.

"I could sense that there was something wrong with the boat after it started moving forward because its edge was already submerged in the water, probably because of overloading," Nihkil added. "After a few seconds I saw water gushing into the boat and people shouting for help. I could see heads struggling to stay afloat."

Nikhil said he saw around 20 people sink without any struggle; probably they did not know how to swim.

"They just vanished; I also saw around eight-nine people coming out of the river easily as they could swim," he said.

A government vessel that was ferrying people also rushed to provide help and its crew threw life jackets in the river but there were many who did not know how to use the life-jackets, Nikhil said.

He said a man from the government steamer also jumped into the river to save the drowning people while others on the boat were trying to rescue people with the help of bamboo sticks, which did not help much.

"I could not do anything to help because I don't know swimming," Nikhil added.

His family returned from Sabbalpur Diara at around 6.30pm on a government boat. "We were so afraid after the incident that till the time we reached the shore, we were scared for our lives," said Nikhil.

He said when he had first suggested a family outing on the diara, his son had asked: "What if the boat turns turtle?"

Nikhil said he had laughed out loud at the time.