Sixteen persons were killed when a boat carrying tourists capsized in the Krishna river on Sunday evening. The boat with around 38 persons was heading to the Pavitra Sangamam Ferry ghat near Ibrahimpatnam.
Fifteen persons were rescued by local fishermen. As the boat overturned, the tourists were trapped underneath. Five bodies were later recovered from under the boat. The deceased included six women and four children.
The tourists on the boat were heading to witness the grand maha haarathi ritual at the Pavitra Sangamam on the last Sunday of the auspicious month of Karthika. Most of the passengers were said to be members of the Ongole Walkers Club in Prakasam district while some were from Nellore.
The banks of the river were crowded with holiday visitors when the tragedy struck.
Rush to the side
An eyewitness said as the boat came close to the Pavitra Sangamam, all the tourists rushed to one side, causing the vessel to tilt and capsize.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, Krishna district authorities launched a massive search and rescue operation to trace the missing passengers and locate the bodies.
Workers of another private boat anchored near Ferry ghat said they rushed to the rescue when they heard a noise. “Many of the tourists got trapped under the overturned boat and died of suffocation,” said one of them.
It is not clear how many people were on board the boat when it started from Bhavani Island.
Home Minister Chinarajappa, who visited the accident site, announced an ex gratia of ₹5 lakh to each of the family of the dead.
Tourism Secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena said the boat belonged to a private company, River Boat Adventures, which had permission to operate only two small boats — a 2-seater and a 4-seater. He said the Tourism Department would file a criminal case of homicide against the operator.
Chairman of the Tourism Department Jayram Reddy said officials had objected to the operation of the boat and stopped it a couple of days ago. “But he [the owner] started operating from a different jetty without our knowledge. When we learnt about it, we tried getting the boat back to the banks but in the meantime, the tragedy occurred,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
