GAUHATI: A motorized boat crowded with dozens of passengers capsized in a northeast Indian river on Monday, and dozens of people are feared drowned, an official said.

The boat had been taking people to a nearby boat race when its engine malfunctioned, leaving it to drift uncontrolled in the Kolohi River, District Magistrate Vinod Sachan said. The boat overturned when it hit the post of a bridge, he said.

Some people managed to swim to shore, but Sachan did not know how many were on board. He said there were fears that dozens may have drowned in the accident near Gauhati, the capital of the northeastern state of Assam.

Emergency workers were on their way to the site of the accident. The Kolohi is a tributary of the Brahmaputra River.