The flood situation on Thursday further worsened in West Midnapore district of West Bengal where about 16 lakh people were affected while 15 deaths have been reported in the past two days.

District Magistrate N S Nigam said all 15 deaths were reported from Sabang, Pingla and Narayangarh. Of these, Narayangarh alone accounted for 11 deaths.

The body of Gautam Basu, former personal secretary of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and two of his friends were recovered from Narayanpur on Thursday afternoon. They were washed away on Tuesday while moving in a car.

Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, however, told newsmen at Kolkata that nine deaths were reported from West Midnapore and one unconfirmed death from East Midnapore.

The state government has opened 300 relief camps where about 35,000 people have been sheltered. Thousands of people were yet to be rescued, the district magistrate said.

He said the 27 boats from civil defence reached the district, but those could not be used due to mechanical snag.

However, the army was continuing the rescue work with six boats. The air force also dropped food packets to marooned people in affected areas on Thursday afternoon.

As the water of Subarnarekha was rising menacingly, the district administration was fearing more inundation in the night. Vast areas had already been submerged by Shilabati and Chumi rivers, official sources said.

Hundreds of trucks were stranded on the National Highway 60 as a large part of it was under water, Nigam said.