Eight villagers cling to tree as boat capsizes

"All the occupants of the boat are safe. They have been perched on a tree. Effors are on to rescue them," Dhenkanal District Collector Bishnu Prasad Panda said.

The people were going from Kanka to Bainsia (rpt Kanka to Bainsia villages) under Gondia police station with swollen Brahmani submerged adjacent areas when the boat apparently hit some object and tilted before being toppled over, he said

However, the occupants, numbering about eight, managed to swim to a tree and were found to be clinging to the branches, the collector said quoting eyewitness.

The local `Tehsildar` rushed to the spot along with fire brigade personnel to rescue the stranded.

Incessant rains in upper catchment of Brahmani had triggerd flood situation inundating a large number of villages in Orissa for past few days.