Seventeen people are believed to have died when a boat full of villagers returning from a picnic capsized in India’s Ganges River today, a senior police officer said.

Heavy rains collapsed houses and swollen rivers inundated thousands of villages in India’s largest state, killing at least 28 people, officials said today.

Torrential rain and floods swept the eastern Indian state of Bihar, claiming at least three lives and leaving thousands marooned today as the army struggled to carry out rescue and relief operations.