NEW DELHI: Emergency workers recovered 12 bodies from a river and were searching for another 10 missing people on Wednesday after a ferry capsized in southern India, officials said.
The boat was carrying 44 people across the Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh state when strong winds flipped it over late Tuesday, prompting a massive rescue operation including navy helicopters and dozens of divers.
The bodies were found after a 16-hour search of the sunken boat around 60 feet (18 metres) underwater using sonar equipment.
The state's Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said 22 passengers swam to safety and efforts are on to find those still missing.
Naidu blamed the private boat operator for the tragedy, saying the ferry was packed with men, cement bags and motorbikes.
"Because of the strong gale, the boat could not withstand pressure and sunk," he told reporters at the site of accident in East Godavari district.
The victims included members of a wedding party and people from local tribal communities, who regularly use the boats to reach their villages across India's second largest river that flows from the west of the country to the east coast.
Freak dust and thunderstorms have battered India for weeks this month, killing hundreds across the country.
Eight people drowned after their boat capsized late Sunday during a storm in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
But boat accidents are also common in India for other reasons -- mainly overcrowding, poor maintenance and lax safety.
In September, 20 people were killed when a boat capsized on the Yamuna river in northern India.
Six people died in October after their boat sank in eastern Bihar state, just months after 25 people died in a similar accident in the river Ganges.
India boat capsize leaves 12 dead, 10 missing
India boat capsize leaves 12 dead, 10 missing
Russia committed ‘crimes against humanity’ in deporting Ukrainian children: UN inquiry
- The inquiry said Russia had deported or transferred “thousands” of children from occupied areas of Ukraine, of which it had so far confirmed 1,205 cases
- “Four years on, 80 percent of the children deported or transferred in the cases investigated by the commission have not returned,” it said
GENEVA: Moscow’s deportation and forcible transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia amounts to a crime against humanity, a United Nations team of investigators said Tuesday.
The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said it had collected evidence leading it to conclude that “Russian authorities have committed the crimes against humanity of deportation and forcible transfer, as well as of enforced disappearance of children.”
The probe was established by the UN Human Rights Council shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The inquiry said Russia had deported or transferred “thousands” of children from occupied areas of Ukraine, of which it had so far confirmed 1,205 cases.
“Four years on, 80 percent of the children deported or transferred in the cases investigated by the commission have not returned,” it said.
Moscow has failed to establish a system facilitating returns, and has instead focused on long-term placement of the children with families or institutions in Russia, while relatives were not informed of their fate.
The commission confirmed its previous finding that Russian authorities had unlawfully deported and transferred children — as a war crime — “and that they have unjustifiably delayed their repatriation, which is also a war crime.”
These measures “were not guided by the best interests of the child,” and have violated international law, the probe found.
- Putin cited -
It said the involvement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, “including through his direct authority over entities that have steered and executed this policy, has been visible from the outset.”
In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued a war crimes arrest warrant against Putin, accusing him of “unlawfully deporting” Ukrainian children.
The issue is highly sensitive in Ukraine and remains central to negotiations for a potential peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow.
According to Kyiv, nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly removed since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Russia insists it has moved some Ukrainian children from their homes or orphanages to protect them from hostilities.
As for Russian trials in the context of its invasion of Ukraine, the commission found that Russian authorities have “systematically fabricated evidence” and “systematically violated a range of fair trial guarantees,” while judges “have not acted with independence and impartiality.”
- ‘Extreme violence’ -
The commission also probed the situation of nationals from 17 countries who were recruited — either voluntarily or through deception — to fight with Russian troops in Ukraine.
They included men from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Cuba, Egypt, Ghana, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nepal, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkiye and Yemen.
“After training, usually lasting between one week and 30 days, they were forced to serve on frontlines in Ukraine, often assigned extremely dangerous duties,” the commission said in its report.
Commanders arbitrarily imposed “extreme violence” as punishment for refusing orders that meant almost certain death, with soldiers describing being treated like “cannon fodder,” sent on “meat assaults” without training or necessary equipment, and “forced to advance at all costs.”
“The evidence collected demonstrates abusive behavior, cruelty, humiliation, inhuman treatment, and a total disregard for human life and dignity, perpetrated with a sense of impunity,” the report said.
Regarding Ukraine, the report voiced concern about the overly broad definition and sometimes distorted interpretation of the crime of “collaboration.”
The commission also said reports regarding violent treatment of conscientious objectors during Ukrainian mobilization were “a source of concern.”
The report will be presented at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday.
Moscow does not recognize the commission and does not answer its requests for access, information and meetings.
