Two persons went missing, and 19 others were rescued after a boat capsized in the Ganga in Bihar's Bhagalpur district on Wednesday, officials said.
The boat of the Water Resources Department (WRD) capsized around 2.30 pm when labourers were engaged in the reconstruction of the Kajikoraiya-Raghopur embankment, two days after a breach was reported there, they said.
"Of the 21 people on board, 19 have been rescued. The SDRF team is continuing the search operation to trace the remaining two labourers," District Magistrate Alankrita Pandey said.
The boat capsized after a vortex developed in the river, she said, adding that there appeared to have been "negligence" in adhering to guidelines issued by the district administration. "An FIR will be registered against the contractor or vendor concerned," Pandey said.
She said the use of boats for dropping geobags had been suspended for the time being, with tractors being used instead.
"The WRD team will decide the further course of action after the engineer-in-chief provides technical details and his opinion. In the meantime, engineers have been instructed to speed up the flood-fighting work," the DM said.
(With inputs from PTI)