Vijayawada: The death toll in the boat capsize incident in Krishna River near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh has climbed to 19 following the recovering of three more bodies this morning, an official said.

State disaster response and fire services department’s director general N Satyanarayana said while two bodies were recovered by teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), another was fished out by personnel of his department.

“There is suspicion that four more persons are missing. We are pressing scuba divers into service to trace the missing persons. Since there is lot of water movement because rescue teams are at work, the bodies, if any, could have floated away. We have intensified the operation,” Satyanarayana said at the Ferry ghat.

A tourist boat packed with 35-40 passengers capsized into river Krishna at the Pavithra Sangamam ghat near Vijayawada on Sunday evening. Till late last night, 16 bodies were fished out. Sources told New Indian Express that 15 people had been recovered while 10 others were still feared missing till yesterday night.

The boat overturned while it was returning from the Bhavani Island to the Pavithra Sangamam, where the Godavari meets the Krishna

The authorities have pressed into service a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to rescue the missing passengers.

They said that the boat, run by Simple Water Sports, was ferrying 35-40 passengers, much more than its capacity of 20.

The overcrowded boat couldn’t pass over a whirlpool at the spot where the Godavari joins the Krishna, they added.

Sunday being a holiday and this being the auspicious Karthika Masam, the number of tourists was more than usual.

When contacted, a Simple Water Sports representative claimed that they hadn’t overcrowded the boat and there were only 20 passengers on the boat.

Conflicting versions are emerging on the cause of the accident.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed DGP Sambasiva Rao and Krishna district collector Lakshmi Kantham to rush to the spot and monitor the rescue operations.