KATHMANDU, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Over 30 people were missing in Koshi river after a boat that was being used to rescue the flood-hit, capsized at Haripur area in Saptakoshi River on Wednesday afternoon.

    The boat which was ferrying locals from the flood-hit areas in Sunsari district, some 220 km southeast of the Nepali capital Kathmandu, capsized at around 12:10 p.m. local time, local leading news website THT Online reported.

    More than 30 persons went missing in the swollen river, police quoted eyewitnesses as saying. An army helicopter has been mobilized for a search and rescue mission.

    Over 50,000 locals have left their homes for neighboring districts and Indian villages till Wednesday, after the swollen Saptakoshi River damaged an embankment in south Nepal.

    Before the Saptakoshi River, which runs from Himalaya to India, began eroding the embankment in Sunsari district, the local authorities had issued warnings and appealed to the locals to move to safer places. This led to an exodus out of the villages since Sunday's midnight.