Bhubaneswar, April 19 (IANS): Two persons died while seven others were missing after a boat carrying more than 50 passengers, including women and children, capsized in the Mahanadi River in Odisha's Jharsuguda district on Friday, officials said.

Official sources claimed that all the passengers were from the Kharsani area of neighbouring Chhattisgarh and going to Patharseni in the Ambabhona block of Odisha's Bargarh district.

The people were crossing the Mahanadi at Sharda in Lakhanpur block of Jharsuguda when the boat overturned in the middle of the river at around 3 p.m. Fire services personnel from Ambabhona Fire Station and locals have so far rescued 30 passengers while the search is on to trace seven missing people - four women and three children.

Expressing grief over the tragedy, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the next of kin of the victims. He also instructed the district administration to provide all necessary medical assistance to rescued persons.

Following the instructions of the Chief Minister, five expert scuba drivers, along with two underwater search cameras, have been airlifted from Bhubaneswar to Jharsuguda to assist in the rescue operations.