Mumbai: Thirteen people died and another 108 were rescued from the Arabian Sea after an Indian Navy’s speedboat on sea trials abruptly rammed into a passenger ferry, near the Raigad coast, off Gateway of India, on Wednesday, officials said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said after a brief meeting that a Navy boat collided with a passenger ferry, named Neelkamal, at around 3.55 pm.
In this incident, 13 people have died while 101 have been rescued, he informed.
According to reports, the passenger boat, named Neelkamal, was ferrying around 110 tourists plus five crew members to the famous Elephanta Islands, and the incident occurred around 5.15 pm, said sources in the Disaster Control room of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Official sources said that a Navy’s rigid inflatable boat undergoing engine trials crashed into the ‘Neelkamal’ at high speed, overturning it and throwing most of the tourists into the Arabian Sea near Uran, Karanja on the Raigad coast, around 10 kms from Gateway of India.
Videos of the tragedy, clicked by aghast passengers from other ferries in the vicinity, showed gruesome shots of people screaming for help, flaying their arms and legs to remain afloat or attempting to hold their near and dear ones from drowning in chilly sea waters.
Then, a massive rescue operation was launched by the Navy's four helicopters and a dozen vessels, the Marine Police, Indian Coast Guard, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, along with local fisherfolk and other ferry boats to save the victims.
As per the statment of BMC issued at 7 pm, authorities have confirmed two deaths, four ‘critical’ in different hospitals, and 104 tourists whose condition is reported to be ‘stable’ in various hospitals, and search continues for another five still suspected ‘missing’ as darkness fell.
The owner of the vessel, Rajendra Padte, said that the ‘Neelkamal’ had departed on its regular tourism voyage to Elephanta Islands around 3.15 pm and barely a couple of hours later the tragedy was reported, “but it was not our fault”.
Mumbai City Collector Sanjay Yadav and Raigad Collector Kisan Jawale, plus Deputy Commissioner of Police (Ports Zone) Sudhakar Pathare, went to expedite the rescue operations.
As per the latest information, the Costal unit of Mumbai Police at Yellowgate police station is handling the case and has opened an information centre for the relatives of the victim.
The Elephanta Isles, housing the world-famous group of temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and other Hindu gods and goddesses, that are said to have been cut in rocks between 1,500-2,200 years ago, and are one of the must-see tourist destinations of Maharashtra.
