The accident happened on Saturday evening as people were returning after watching kite-flying celebrations to mark a harvest festival.
The boat was carrying as many as 50 people, more than its capacity of 30, and it capsized not far from the shore in Patna, Bihar state’s Disaster Management Minister Chandrashekhar said.
Nineteen bodies were found on Saturday.
Manu Maharaj, a senior police official from the state, said yesterday rescuers had ended search operations after recovering the five additional bodies.
“Operations have been closed because there is no more missing complaint,” Maharaj said, estimating the total number of people on the boat when it capsized at about 40.
“But we are on alert,” he said.
Police have registered a case against the boat operator, Maharaj said.
The disaster management minister had said on Saturday 10 to 12 people managed to swim to safety.
Eight people were hospitalised after being rescued.
“The passengers of the boat tried to jump on to another boat behind and that too tipped,” National Disaster Relief Force director R K Pachnanda said.
The boats were giving free rides to the passengers who were returning from the venue of an annual kite-flying festival held on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.
Among those to survive the tragedy was an 18-month toddler, now recovering in a hospital, Anirudh Kumar, joint secretary of the state disaster management authority said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of lives and announced compensation of Rs200,000 for the families of the deceased, according to his official Twitter account.
Boat accidents are common in the country, mainly because of overcrowding, poor maintenance, lax regulations and a lack of life jackets and other safety equipment.
Some 20 people died after a ferry capsized in a rain-swollen river in the northeastern state of Assam in September 2015.
More than 100 people lost their lives in 2012 in Assam when a boat sank in the Brahmaputra river during a storm.
Meanwhile, a stampede in West Bengal killed six women yesterday as devotees returning from Makar Sankranti festival rushed to get onto a jetty, a minister said.
Some 1.5mn people had assembled at Gangasagar to take a holy dip in the river on the occasion of the harvest festival.
The devotees were on their way back from the two-day festival when the stampede broke out, minister Manturam Pakhira said.
“Six women have died in the stampede while they were trying to cross a jetty near Gangasagar,” Pakhira said.
Ten others were injured as the pilgrims rushed to board vessels to reach Kolkata, he added.
Rescue workers launched a search operation to look for those who might have fallen into the river during the stampede.
Thousands of devotees from across the country gather every year at Gangasagar, where the Ganges flows into the sea, to take to the holy waters .
Stampedes at s religious festivals are not uncommon with police and volunteer stewards often overwhelmed by the sheer size of the crowds.
Last year, 24 people died after a stampede broke out in Varanasi.
