KENDRAPARA: Around 10 persons including three children were feared drowned after a boat carrying picnickers capsized in Nipania river within Jamboo Marine police limits here on Wednesday evening. 

As many as 30 picnickers were rescued while the body of one person was retrieved from the river. Picnickers from Hasina village in Kujang of Jagatsinghpur district were returning on the boat after attending a feast at Hukitola island in the Bay of Bengal. 

Efforts are on to trace the missing persons, said SDPO Rajiv Lochan Panda. Sources said the boat was overloaded with passengers. The exact number of persons on board the ill-fate boat is yet to be ascertained.  Women and children were present in the boat when it capsized in the middle of the river. 

Expressing grief over the mishap, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed Special Relief Commissioner’s office, Odisha Fire Service personnel and the district administration to step up rescue and search operations.