| Four women were feared dead while 14 others were rescued after a boat capsized in the Ghaghra river in Chapra Poorvi village under Dhanghata police station of Sant Kabirnagar district on Saturday.

Tehsildar of Dhanghata, Vandna Pandey said there were 18 people on the ill-fated boat of which 14 dad been rescued.

“Some farm labourers were going on the ill-fated boat from one bank of the river to the other on Saturday morning to cut their crop,” Pandey said.

“The mishap took place at around 8:30 am as the labourers were in a hurry to get down from the boat. The NDRF team has reached the spot for rescue work,” she added.

Superintendent of Police Brajesh Singh said that divers were at the spot to trace the missing persons.

The missing women were identified as Maya and Rekha, both hailing from Balampur, and Roopa and Kavita, from Chapra locality of the district.

Taking cognisance of the incident, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police to reach the spot and engage the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in rescue work.

Meanwhile in Banda, two persons were killed when the motorcycle they were riding hit some stray cows, police said on Saturday.

Chunbadi Prajapati (35) and his brother-in-law Jalkadeen (38) were returning from a local market when the accident occurred at Khaurarha bypass on Friday evening, Station House Officer of Mataundh police station Shail Kumar Singh said.

“Both the motorcyclists fell on the road and sustained serious injuries. They were rushed to the hospital, where the doctors declared them dead,” he said.

Upon searching the two-wheeler, a liquor bottle was found, while no helmet was recovered from the accident spot, he said.

“Prima facie, it seems that both were under the influence of alcohol. They sustained head injuries, as they were not wearing a helmet,” he said.

“The bodies were sent for post-mortem.

In yet another incident, a 16-year-old girl was crushed to death by a truck in Fatehpur district on Saturday following which angry locals set the vehicle on fire.

SHO of Kotwali Shahr (City) Jitendra Singh said Shilu Pal (16) was going to her school on a bicycle when a gravel-laden truck ran over her on the Banda-Tanda road.

The girl was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to injuries, he said.

The driver and cleaner of the truck escaped after the accident while the agitated villagers set the vehicle on fire.

The body of the deceased was sent for post-mortem and efforts were on to nab the driver and the cleaner of the truck along with people who had set the vehicle afire, police said.