NEW DELHI: The death toll in yesterday's boat tragedy in Patna rose to 25 today, NDRF said.More than half a dozen are still missing after the boat carrying 40 people from Sabalpur Diara en route to Gandhi Ghat in Bihar 's Patna capsized yesterday.Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the tragedy. He also announced an ex gratia from the PM's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased, and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured in the incident.Meanwhile, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has blamed Bihar state government for the boat tragedy. "Arrangements should have been more robust, inquiry will expose loopholes and defaulters will be caught," Prasad told ANI.Reportedly, the death toll from the tragedy is likely to increase. He directed the state's principal secretary of disaster management, Pratyay Amrit, Patna DIG Shalin and Patna DM Sanjay Kumar Agrawal to rush to the site of the mishap and personally monitor the rescue operations.The CM also announced an ex gratia to the next kin of deceased persons at the earliest. He has also directed officials to find out what arrangements the organisers had taken for the travellers' safety.The Bihar CM cancelled all upcoming events to be held in that Diara area, where the mishap took place.

Source: Times of India January 15, 2017 04:25 UTC