Six dead, several missing after tourist boat capsizes in Yamuna in Mathura
Mathura (UP) (PTI): A boat carrying tourists capsized in Yamuna in Vrindavan on Friday afternoon, leaving at least six people dead and several others missing, officials said.
District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh confirmed the fatalities, stating that all the tourists onboard were from Punjab.
"Six bodies have been recovered. Sixteen to 17 people have been rescued safely so far. Efforts are ongoing to locate the missing," the DM said.
The boat was said to be carrying over two dozen tourists. Rescue operations are underway with teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and around 50 local divers.
A local diver, identified as Gulab, said about 15 people have been pulled out so far, officials said.
Eyewitness told media that the boat began to sway violently midstream due to gusty winds, its speed increased and it collided with a pontoon bridge, causing it to overturn.
Police and local administration are jointly conducting the rescue operation, with divers searching the deeper sections of the river for missing persons. Senior officials, including the district magistrate and superintendent of police, have reached the spot to monitor the situation.
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ISRO successfully conducts second integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan mission
New Delhi (PTI): Space agency ISRO has successfully conducted the second integrated air drop test (IADT-02) for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission at the space station in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
The system is essential to ensure a safe recovery of the crew module -- the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight -- during re-entry and landing.
Union minister Jitendra Singh congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for successfully conducting the test.
"Congratulations #ISRO for the successful accomplishment of Second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) for #Gaganyaan, India's first Human Space flight scheduled next year. The second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) was successfully conducted at Satish Dhawan Space Station Sriharikota," Singh said in a post on X.
The IADT-02 follows the successful completion of the first IADT, which took place on August 24, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Air drop tests recreate the last leg of a spacecraft's return to Earth. An aircraft or helicopter drops the spacecraft from a height to test various systems under different scenarios.
These are the deployment of the parachute system in case the mission is aborted mid-flight, system performance when one parachute fails to open and the spacecraft's orientation and safety during splashdown etc.
In the IADT-02 test, a simulated crew module, weighing about 5.7 tonnes, was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to an altitude of about three kilometres and released over a designated drop zone in the sea, near the Sriharikota coast.
In a statement, the ISRO said, "Ten parachutes of four types were deployed in a precise sequence during the descent of the crew module, gradually reducing the velocity for safe touchdown. Subsequently, the simulated crew module was successfully recovered in coordination with the Indian Navy."
