Bodies of two Rautahat boat capsize victims were recovered in India on Sunday.

According to the District Police Office, the bodies of Runa Devi Patel and Shanti Devi were recovered at Jamuwaghat area in India, nearly eight kilometres downstream from the site of the accident.

Authorities suspect that several people are still missing and feared dead after the boat capsized in the rain-swollen Lalbakaiya stream at Tikuliyaghat area on Saturday evening.

Chief District Officer (CDO) Govinda Prasad Rijal said Indu Devi Patel, Usha Patel and Om Prakash Chandrabanshi were confirmed to be missing in the incident as of late Sunday afternoon.

The District Administration Office has urged the people to contact their nearest police stations if their friends and relatives are missing since Saturday evening.

Rescuers have been mobilised in the area to find the missing victims.

Police said 24 people, including five women, survived the accident by swimming ashore and have come in contact with the local administration.

The boat was returning to Tikuliyaghat in Gaur-4 from Banjaraha when it capsized at around 7pm.

 Most of the victims were farmers returning homes from their paddy fields in Banjaraha. There is no bridge close

to the area. A bridge project that began years ago remains unfinished.

After the Saturday’s incident, the local people have demanded the authorities concerned to take action against the contractor, Pappu Construction, for abandoning the bridge project. The bridge was supposed to be completed a year ago.