13 killed, 115 safe when navy speedboat rams into a passage ferry near Gateway of India Mumbai on Wednesday
Mumbai saw a massive tragedy come close to the gateway on wednesday when a navy speed boat and a passenger catamaran had a head on collision through the coast guard stating at least 13 people have perished. Some of the boat operators who rushed to the scene described it as disaster area with people on the water crying for help.
Arif Bamane, who works as a driver with Mumbai Port Trust (MBPT) boat also described the scene. I meant it was sad, messy when when we arrived there. They were calling out to us for help, some were crying, Bamane told PTI news agency.
Being with the carrying capacity of 80 people the ferry happened to be on the route between the Gateway of India and Elephanta Island, a popular tourist attraction. The rescuers were able to rescue 115 people. In the assessment of Bamane, the team acted mainly in the attempt to save as many women and children as possible. Two boats including a fishing trawler and another tourist boat had already anchored at the site ahead of them.
“We wanted to keep people alive,” Bamane said, those who carried out the operation, according to him managed to evacuate about 25 people. “This is the largest rescue operation I have seen,” he said.
Bamane also remembered a young girl who was brought in lifeless with water in the lungs. He and other rescuers did ‘pump’ chest on her and after a while she was able to breathe normally. “Slowly, her breathing returned to normal,” he said.
Iqbal Gothekar, a driver of a small tourist boat, was one of the first to get to the site of the accident. He pointed to the terrified passengers waving their arms for the would-be rescuers to notice them. This was the worst ever, stated Gothekar who was part of the team that pulled 16 survivors off the water.
Another survivor Vinayak Mattham from Bengaluru told PTI that the ferry did not have adequate life jackets. ”The norms required that anyone who was allowed into the cabin via the passenger door front or rear should wear a life jacket,” he observed.
Safety Measures Following Another Sad Saga
After the occurrence of the incident, all boat services increased measures of safety such as wearing of life jackets. Some of them pointed out that the jackets they saw seemed fresh. One of the boat owners emphasized on the fact that life jackets are commonly given to the passengers but the later don’t use them willingly. But the passengers testify that there were no life jackets given before the disaster.
A passenger who was on the boat the morning after the mishap said to India Today, “We never had jackets before. It is what you see going on today that are as a result of what happened yesterday. However if all these measures had been put in place earlier, all of us would have been safe.
The navy has said that this incident took place when the speed boat which was on trial run at sea, develop some technical snag and got out of control and hit the ferry boat. A case has been opened against the driver of the Navy boat.
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