PATNA, Oct. 15 -- A small, leaking boat carrying 20-25 villagers capsized late Tuesday in the dark waters of the Ganga near Raghopur diara in Vaishali. At least 13 people, most of them minors, drowned. Seven were pulled to safety. The craft, witnesses and officials later said, was overcrowded, already pockmarked with holes, and unfit for a night crossing after a ritual feast. The Vaishali disaster pushed Bihar's boat-capsize death toll for 2026 to 30 - nearly double the 17 recorded in 2025 and more than four times the seven deaths of 2024. Disaster management department (DMD) figures show eight incidents this year against four last year and six in 2024. Across the three years the state has logged 18 incidents and 54 deaths. The latest tragedy fits a grim sequence already visible this year. On 25 May near Barari Ghat in Bhagalpur, a boat carrying about ten people and a motorcycle pushed into the Ganga's main stream under cover of night and storm. The river was turbulent; the boat overturned midstream and killed a vegetable seller. Three days later, on 28 May, a boat with roughly 14 passengers capsized in the Ganga at Sultalpur diara under Mohiuddinnagar block in Samastipur. Three died, while the rest were rescued. On 8 September near Tesaria diara in Vaishali, another boat struck a submerged boulder in floodwaters and overturned. Chandan Kumar drowned, one person remained missing, and 11 people had been aboard. These incidents alone account for a substantial share of the year's 30 deaths. Vaishali itself has recorded two incidents and 15 deaths in 2026. Samastipur appears with one incident and three deaths. Katihar leads the three-year district tally with six incidents and 16 deaths. Smaller clusters in Purbi Champaran, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Lakhisarai, Sheohar and Sitamarhi complete the official list. The pattern is older than this year's numbers. On 23 September 2025 at Triveniganj ghat on the Benga Marichaiaya, a tributary of the Kosi in Supaul, five women of the same family drowned while returning after grazing cattle. On 10 October 2025 near Raghunathpur ghat in Aurangabad, two women farm labourers died while crossing to sow potatoes. Two days later, on 12 October 2025, an overloaded boat carrying 14 people and animal fodder overturned in strong winds and floodwaters at Purwari Tola Sareh under Lakhaura police station in Motihari. Three died and 11 were rescued in the incident. A decade of National Crime Records Bureau data (2012-2021) already placed Bihar second only to Uttar Pradesh, with 421 boat-capsize deaths - 12.2 percent of the national total. The latest DMD figures show the problem has not eased. September and October remain the most dangerous months: residual monsoon waters keep rivers in spate while festive travel peaks. A retired Disaster Management Authority officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that the combination of urgency and risk becomes fatal. Social worker Mahendra Kumar, active in the Kosi region, added that hundreds of diara villages still lack all-weather roads, leaving boats the only reliable link. Operators rarely face routine inspection under the Indian Vessels Act. Maintenance is minimal. Overloading is routine. The result is a steady, preventable rise in deaths that accelerates each autumn. Tuesday's 13 fatalities in Vaishali are therefore not an isolated shock. They are the latest entry in a ledger that lengthens because geography, weak enforcement and the absence of safer connectivity continue to meet at the same dangerous crossings....