52 dead as boat capsizes in India

The death toll from a boat accident in north India has risen to 52 as rescuers continue to recover more bodies, officials said today.

The crowded vessel capsized on the Ganges river early yesterday and initially local police had said it was carrying about 70 passengers - well above its capacity of about 30.

But local magistrate PK Misra said that, after officials spoke to local villagers and tallied lists of missing relatives, it appeared that the boat was carrying at least 100 people, most of them women and children.

State police spokesman Surendra Srivastava said that, by this morning, rescue workers had pulled out 52 bodies.

The accident happened in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh state, 250 miles (400km) south-east of the capital, Lucknow.