Three brothers went missing in the swollen Ganga after a small boat they had boarded to submerge jute stems for harvesting capsized at Krishnapur under Baishnabnagar police station of Malda on Wednesday morning.

Although rescue operations of the state civil defence department and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are on, none of the trio could be traced till evening.

Sources said around 10am, four sons of Lakshman Mandal, a farmer in Chor-Sujapur, Baishnabnagar, with fields in Krishnapur on the other side of the river, were in the boat on the Ganga. The small vessel with Indrajit, 25, Subrata, 22, Satyajit, 19, and Satyaban, 17, could not keep its balance in the severe current of the overflowing river and capsized. Only Indrajit, a farmer like his father, could swim ashore.

Subrata is a third-year student of South Malda College while Satyajit and Satyaban have passed their higher secondary exams this year.

“They went to harvest jute stems. We never expected such a mishap,” said the father.

A civil defence team started a search operation with 12 country boats, trained swimmers and a speed boat. Later, an NDRF team joined in.“None could be traced till late evening,” said Mamun Akhtar, the BDO of Kaliachak-III block.

Residents said many villages of Kaliachak-III block are flooded by the Ganga .The main road used by commuters in these villages to reach block headquarters is under water.

“A boat is the only medium of transport. Nearly 20,000 people have been affected in floods,” said Jayanti Mandal, a local panchayat member.