Mumbai: In a gruesome maritime disaster, at least 13 persons drowned, including three Indian Navy sailors, plus another 99 were rescued from the Arabian Sea when a naval speedboat on engine trials lost control and abruptly rammed into a chockful passenger ferry near the Raigad Coast, off Gateway of India, here on Wednesday evening, officials said.

The passenger boat, reported to be a private catamaran named ‘Neelkamal,’ was ferrying around 110 tourists plus five crew members to the world-famous UNESCO Heritage Elephanta Islands. According to BMC Disaster Control, the disaster occurred around 5.15 p.m.

Official sources said that an Indian 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 km from Gateway of India.

The sources said that the ferry, ‘Neelkamal’, may have broken down with the sudden hit, overturned and started sinking with the passengers thrown into the sea.

Videos of the tragedy, clicked by aghast passengers from other ferries in the vicinity, showed gruesome shots of people screaming for help, flailing their arms and legs to remain afloat or attempting to hold their near and dear ones from sinking in chilly sea waters.

After receiving the SOS from multiple sources on the disaster, the Indian Navy’s four helicopters and 15 other vessels, including the Marine Police, Indian Coast Guard, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, local fishers, and other ferry boats, launched a massive rescue operation to save the victims.

By 9 p.m. on Wednesday, the authorities confirmed 13 deaths comprising three Indian Navy sailors and 10 civilians, several ‘critical’ in different hospitals, and over 100 other tourists whose condition is reported to be ‘stable’ in various hospitals, while the search continues for another five still suspected ‘missing’ as darkness fell.

It was not immediately clear whether the ill-fated ‘Neelkamal’ was carrying passengers as per the stipulated norms for load and other safety measures.

The owner of the vessel, Rajendra Padte, said that the ‘Neelkamal’ had departed on its regular tourism voyage to Elephanta Islands around 3.15 p.m. and barely a couple of hours later, the tragedy was reported, “but it was not our fault”.

“An Indian Navy speedboat first encircled my boat, then zoomed off, returned at high speed and banged into ‘Neelkamal’. All the tourists were wearing life jackets, which are now compulsory. More than a dozen other boats are engaged in the rescue operations,” a shaken Padte told mediapersons.

A livid Peasants & Workers Party of India (PWP) General Secretary and ex-legislator Jayant P. Patil, who was present at the spot, slammed the concerned authorities, which resulted in the tragedy. The Neelkamal sunk into the water soon thereafter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the collision of the naval vessel with the civilian passenger boat in Mumbai this evening.

He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF for the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 for all the injured in the mishap.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made a brief statement in the Legislative Assembly in Nagpur, while Deputy CM Eknath Shinde spoke to Mumbai City Collector Sanjay Yadav, Raigad Collector Kisan Jawale, and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Ports Zone) Sudhakar Pathare to expedite the rescue operations.

A civic official said that 56 were admitted to the JNPA Hospital, 32 to the Naval Dockyard medical facility, one to INHS Ashvini Hospital, nine to St. George Hospital, and 12 to a hospital on the mainland at Karanja.

Meanwhile, anxious relatives of many of the victims rushed from different parts of Mumbai and other places to the hospitals where their kin were admitted to get details of their welfare, and the Yellowgate Police Station officials, who are handling the case, had a tough time controlling them.

Indian Navy is likely to order a probe into the deadly collision that left behind many casualties, including 13 fatalities, amid fears that the death toll could go up further.

The Elephanta Isles, housing the world-famous group of temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and other Hindu gods and goddesses, which are said to have been cut in rocks between 1,500 and 2,200 years ago, are one of the must-see tourist destinations of Maharashtra.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quaid Najmi–IANS