MULTAN, March 25: Some 30 people were missing till late on Friday night from among the passengers of a motorboat that was capsized on Thursday evening in the river Indus near Chacharraan Sharif in Rahim Yar Khan district. The boat was coming from Kot Mithan, Rajanpur district, to Chacharraan Sharif when it capsized in the middle of the river. The authorities in Rahim Yar Khan said that some 14 people aboard the boat had survived while the body of a woman passenger, Sharam Bibi, had been recovered.

She belonged to the Fazilpur area of Rajanpur.

The survivors told rescue workers that about 45 people, including four women and a number of children, were aboard the boat against the capacity of 25. Six motorbikes had also been loaded.

When the boat reached in the middle of the river, its motor developed some technical fault and sailors could not control it. The rescue workers have fished out the capsized boat found three kilometers downstream from the place of accident.

The authorities have dispatched a team of rescue workers, including divers, to the Guddu Barrage in search for the 30 missing people.