Passengers being rescued after a ferry capsized off Mumbai coast when a Navy craft crashed into it, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Survivors of the ferry boat crash narrated harrowing experience after an Indian Navy speed boat crashed into a passenger ferry ship while it was enroute from Gateway of India to the Gharapuri Island in Raigad district.
13 persons including two minors lost their lives in the incident.
Navy craft undergoing engine trials lost control and collided with the passenger ferry Neel Kamal off Karanja near Mumbai at around 4 pm on Wednesday, the Navy said.
Officials of the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard confirmed on Thursday that search and rescue operations were still underway as two people— a man and a young boy were still missing.
There were six persons on board the Navy craft, of which two survived.
The missing passengers have been identified as 43-year-old Hansraj Bhati and seven-year-old Johan Mohammad Nisar Ahmed Pathan.
Meanwhile, an FIR under CR No 283/24 under sections 106 (1), 125 (a) (b), 282, 324 (3)(5) of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita has been registered in Colaba police station.
25-year-old Gautam Gupta, who was on board the ferry, recorded the speeding speedboat hitting the vessel, on his mobile phone. “After the impact, one of the occupants of the speedboat was flung into the air and crashed on the deck,” he said recalling the incident.
“The speed boat made loops and rammed the ferry…it was a horrific situation,” said Ashok Rao, who was one of the passengers.
Mira Road resident Santosh Jadhav, one of the survivors, said that as soon as the speedboat hit the ferry, water started gushing in. “There was chaos and confusion after that,” he said.
"After the impact, some people fell into the sea," said Dinesh Adkane, one of the survivors.
Meanwhile, the agencies who were involved in the S&R operation, said that the majority of the people on board had not worn the life-jackets.
IN and ICG ships, helicopters are engaged in the S&R operations while divers also were pressed into service around the accident area.
A multi-agency search and rescue (S&R) operation continued for day 2 along the Mumbai-Raigad stretch in search for two missing persons.