Six persons went missing after a boat capsized in the Ganga river in Barh sub-division of Patna district on Sunday, officials said.

"The mishap took place at around 9.15 am near Umanath ganga ghat when the boat carrying 17 people, mostly belonging to a family, overturned midway. The boat overturned and sank in the middle of the Ganga river. While 11 people have been rescued so far…some of them managed to swim to safety and reach the shore of the river, six are still missing," Shubham Kumar, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Barh) told reporters.

On getting information, officials of the district administration and police personnel reached the spot and started rescue operations with the help of locals to trace the whereabouts of the missing occupants of the ill-fated boat, said the SDM.

The search operation is on to trace the six missing persons, he said.

"We are also engaging personnel of the state disaster relief force. We are trying to ascertain the identity of the missing persons," the SDM added.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.