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Tourist boat capsizes in northern India, killing at least 10

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — An overcrowded tourist boat capsized in the Yamuna river in northern India on Friday, leaving at least 10 people dead, officials said.

The accident occurred near the temple town of Vrindavan, a major Hindu pilgrimage site in Uttar Pradesh state.

Officials said the privately operated boat, which had a capacity of about 15 passengers, was carrying around 25 people when it overturned midstream. Preliminary findings indicated strong winds caused the vessel to sway before it struck a pontoon bridge and capsized.

Senior administrative officer Chandraprakash Singh said 15 people were rescued, four of them in critical condition. The dead were all from India and included six women, he said.

Officials said most passengers were not wearing life jackets and that the boat appeared poorly maintained. The operator fled the scene after the accident, they said.

The tourists were part of a larger group of about 150 people visiting the area, officials said.

Boating accidents are common in India, where many vessels are overcrowded and have inadequate safety equipment.

In 2023, a tourist boat capsized in southern India, killing at least 22 people.

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes, threatens to end talks to end the war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas, without Iran's direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Iran insists it alone must govern the strait after the war, upending decades of the world considering that the strait was international waters free for all, despite its sitting in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through the Oman route, backed by a United Nations agency, in recent days. Early Sunday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.
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