At least 11 people, including six children, were reported missing in the Bagmati river in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur when an apparently overloaded boat capsized just a few metres from the riverbank on Thursday.

The incident occurred at Madhurpatti Ghat under Gaighat police station area in the district at around 9.30am. The boat was packed with people headed to work and children on their way to school.

Muzaffarpur district administration officials rushed to the place of occurrence. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) also reached there and are trying to trace the missing people.

“I have asked the district magistrate to pay attention to it. If an incident has happened, he will see to it. We will also help the families of the people affected in the tragedy,” chief minister Nitish Kumar, who visited Muzaffarpur to inaugurate a cancer treatment unit, told reporters.

Some if the residents in the neighbourhood said they had been demanding a bridge at the place for the past several years but the government has so far not paid heed to the appeal.

The Bagmati river is in spate following heavy rains in Nepal. The boats plying on the spot take the help of a rope stretched between the two banks to cross the river slowly.

“The boat had crossed the river safely but lost control and hit a wall on the bank before the people could alight. The current in the river is very swift and the boat overturned,” Muzaffarpur (East) sub-divisional officer Amit Kumar, who was present at the place of the mishap, told The Telegraph.