Karnataka: Eight drowned, 17 rescued after boat capsizes off Karwar coast; efforts on to find one missing

Bengaluru: Eight persons drowned and another was ‘missing’ while 17 people were rescued when a boat carrying about 26 pilgrims capsized at Karwar, the Indian Navy said Monday. [caption id=“attachment_5936991” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The search operation for the missing person is still underway. Twitter/ANI[/caption] According to police, there was an annual fair at the Kurumagada island in the Arabian sea, where the Narsimha Swamy shrine (dedicated to Lord Vishnu’s incarnation Narsimha) is located. Police had earlier said nearly 1,000 people had gone to take part in the fair and the boat capsized while returning to the Karwar beach. The Navy said in a tweet that there were 26 people in the boat. Learning about the incident, Navy and Indian Coast Guard carried out rescue operatons. “Of the 26 persons reported to be on the boat, 17 people were rescued by other civil boats operating in the area,” the Navy said. Eight bodies have been recovered by the navy and Coast Guard while search is on for the one person still missing. “A Dornier aircraft has been launched from Goa for search and rescue,” the Navy added.