The incident happened around 1.30 pm on Friday. An ITBP boat rushed to the rescue and saved about 30 people. Additional Commissioner (Disaster Management) Pratyay Amrit said 50 people were traveling in the two 25-seater boats. "Twenty people are feared drowned. No bodies have been recovered so far".
BEHIND THE BREACH
AUGUST 18: 400-metre breach develops in the eastern embankment of the Kosi at Kusaha in Nepal, 12 km upstream from the Bhimnagar barrage on the India-Nepal border
AUGUST 25: Breach becomes more than four times bigger, extending to 1.7 km. Over 80% of the Kosi's discharge is now flowing through the breached segment; the original river, to the west, is carrying only 20% discharge. The new stream, passing through Madhepura and Supaul districts, is between 15 km and 18 km wide.
AUGUST 28: Prime Minister makes an aerial survey of the disaster zone, calls the flood a national calamity. Crisis Management Committee decides to mobilize material from the Farakka barrage and elsewhere to divert the stream back to its original course. The discharge is now 1.8 lakh cusecs. 1.6 lakh people have been evacuated, over 50,000 are living in 110 relief camps.
WHAT NOW? In next 3-4 days, large public shelters will be erected for the affected population. The engineers' battle with the breach will continue.
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