PATNA (India) - AT LEAST 50 people, mostly women and children, were feared drowned after a boat capsized in a river during a storm in eastern India, a government official said on Tuesday.

About 75 people, most of whom were returning from a village fair, were on board the boat when it capsized on the Bagmati river in Bihar state late on Monday.

'We have recovered 11 bodies so far and search is on for 40 other missing people,' Mr Rajendra Prasad, an official from Khagaria district where the incident occurred, told Reuters by phone.

'But their survival chances look very thin' he added. --Reuters

Is this article useful to you?