Three people, including a father and his son, who were reported missing in the Srinagar boat tragedy on Tuesday, are feared dead as the authorities had failed to trace them.

Six people, including four minors, died on Tuesday after their boat capsized midway in the Jhelum river at Gandbal near Nowgam. They were crossing the swollen river in a boat with the help of a rope which had snapped.

The deaths have triggered outrage in the Valley after reports that authorities were delaying the construction of a bridge sanctioned in 2017.

Kashmir police chief V.K. Virdi said the search operation, which was halted during the night, resumed on Wednesday but there was no breakthrough.

“The divers, who understand the water and its currents better, are searching the spots where there is a high probability of finding the missing,” he said.

“Generally, bodies float to the surface after some time because of rigor mortis setting in but it has not happened. We have alerted all the police stations along the banks of the river to look into it,” Virdi said.

Teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Jammu and Kashmir police have been pressed into action. They said the Indian Navy’s marine commandos (Marcos) were also on the job.

Officials said the missing include Mushtaq Ahmad and his son Hazik. A woman, Firdousa, and her two sons, Tanvir and Mudasir, died on Tuesday and their bodies have been retrieved. The dead include four minors.