Bodies of seven of the 17 people who were feared drowned in a boat capsize two days ago were fished out in Fatehpur district on Saturday, police said.

With the recovery of these bodies, 10 people have been confirmed dead in the tragedy that occurred in Banda district’s Samgara village on Thursday.

Sanjay Tiwari, SHO at Kishanpur police station, jurisdiction in which the bodies were recovered, told PTI, “Seven bodies have been recovered from Yamuna river. One of those has been taken by the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) to Marka police station. The remaining bodies are at the police station and efforts are on to identify them. These bodies were recovered 15-20 kilometres away from the incident spot.”

The boat carrying over 30 people was sailing from Marka towards Jarauli Ghat in Fatehpur when it lost balance due to strong wind causing huge waves, leading to the tragedy.

SHO of Marka Hemraj Saroj said the incident took place around 4 pm on August 11. “Owing to high speed winds, the boat capsized near the border of Banda district,” he said.

Citing eyewitnesses, the SHO said there were 40-45 passengers on the boat.

A day after the tragic incident, it was found that at least three people, two women and a child, drowned in the water, as per officials. The three dead were identified as Fulwa (50), Rajrani (45) and Kishan (7 months), the SHO informed. 20-25 people were still missing at that time.

NDRF and SDRF personnel were conducting a search operation and it was found that seventeen people were still missing on August 12. Police confirmed that 13 people swam to safety as rescuers continued searching for those missing.

Sources in the district administration said the boat was not registered with the authorities.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to give a financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each dead from the Disaster Relief Fund.

Meanwhile, villagers said they have been demanding a bridge at Marka Ghat for a long time. They said during the BSP regime in the past, projects for bridges were passed on the Yamuna river in Augasi and Marka.

Though the Augassi bridge has been built, the work on the Marka bridge is still incomplete. Had the work been completed, people’s lives would have been saved, they said.

Hundreds of people cross the Ken and Yamuna rivers flowing through Banda district. In 1995, six people died when a boat capsized in the Yamuna river in the Marka area.

In 2019, three people drowned when a boat overturned in the Ken river.

Besides, there have also been some minor incidents of boat capsizing in the area.