SAMASTIPUR, May 29 -- At least three people died and four others were missing after a boat carrying 14 passengers capsized in the Ganga near Sultanpur Diara in Bihar's Samastipur district on Thursday morning, officials said. The deceased were identified as Shravan Mahto, Kashi Mahto and Neelam Kumari, all residents of Masoomganj Bind Toli under Barh police station area in neighbouring Patna district. According to local residents and officials, all three belonged to the same family, while Shravan Mahto and Kashi Mahto were father and son. Officials said seven passengers managed to swim to safety after the mishap, while search operations for the missing persons continued till late evening. All 14 passengers had crossed the river from Umanath Ghat in Patna district's Barh subdivision to Sultanpur Diara in Samastipur's Mohiuddin Nagar block for agricultural work. They were returning to Umanath Ghat with vegetables harvested from parwal (pointed gourd) fields when the boat overturned midstream. "Three deaths have been confirmed so far and four persons are still missing," Mohiuddin Nagar circle officer Brijesh Kumar Dwivedi said. According to the Patna district administration, the incident took place around 5.45 am when the group boarded the boat for Sultanpur Diara, where they regularly travelled for harvesting parwal and carrying out other farming activities. Officials suspect strong winds and possible overloading may have contributed to the accident. "The mishap occurred after the boat's engine failed midstream," Barh SDO Garima Lohiya said. Meanwhile, Shahpur Patori SDO Vikas Pandey said teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), local divers and administrative officials were engaged in the search operation. "Of the 14 people on board, four are still missing, while seven managed to either swim to safety or rescued," Pandey said. Rescue operations were being carried out jointly by the district administrations of Patna and Samastipur. Officials from the disaster management department, along with senior civil and police officers, remained at the site overseeing the operation. As news of the tragedy spread, a large number of local residents and relatives of the victims gathered at Umanath Ghat. Police and civil administration officials were engaged in identifying the missing persons and completing legal formalities. According to an eyewitness, the boat was mostly carrying women, who were crossing the river to fetch vegetables when the incident occurred around 5:00am. The eyewitness said the boat overturned midstream, causing several passengers to drown. "We left around 5:00am. More than 10 to 15 people were going to fetch vegetables. While crossing, the boat overturned right in front of us. Three to four people managed to get to safety, while six to seven people drowned. Only one person has been found so far; the rest are still in the water," the eyewitness said. The eyewitness added that several women were among those on board, and some were rescued in an unconscious condition....