Kota (Rajasthan): Four youths are missing after a small boat carrying seven people capsized in the Kotri canal near Steel Bridge in Kota on Tuesday evening during a Durga idol immersion, police and officials said.

Three of the seven swam to safety and were rescued by people nearby, while four were swept away, according to reports by ANI and The Times of India.

Education Minister Madan Dilawar, who reached the spot and directed the district administration to launch an immediate search and rescue operation, said the canal area is prohibited for immersion and no idol ceremony is permitted there. He described the boat as small and unsafe and said it overturned in the middle of the canal.

District Collector Piyush Samariya and City SP Tejaswini Gautam also reached the site. SP Gautam told reporters that rescue teams were working round the clock, professional divers had been deployed, and police had obtained the names of some of those who were on the boat.

At least 15–17 SDRF personnel, along with NDRF teams, municipal corporation divers, civil defence teams and local administration personnel, joined the search, and authorities stopped the flow of water in the canal to assist the efforts, The Times of India reported. Kota Municipal Corporation Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Vyas said rescue teams were dispatched as soon as the incident near Steel Bridge was reported, and noted that the location was not a designated immersion spot.

The administration has urged people to conduct immersions only at designated sites, where rescue boats, divers and rescue teams are stationed.

The search for the four missing youths was continuing at the time of reporting.

Sources: ANI; The Times of India.