The police have registered a case against four office-bearers of Gateway Elephanta Jal Vahatuk Sahakari Sanstha after a ferry belonging to the organisation had capsized in the Arabian Sea near Mandwa jetty on Saturday.
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The secretary, chief secretary, vice president, and driver of ‘Al Fatah’ boat of Ajanta services, which is being run by the Sanstha, have been booked under Section 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and Section 282 (conveying person by water for hire in unsafe or overloaded vessel) of the Indian Penal Code.
“The documents were in order and the passengers were within the prescribed capacity of the boat. They had charged the passengers for a safe journey and their act endangered their lives; hence we booked them. We have witnesses on the basis of which the case was registered. The upper deck of the ferry was meant to have only one person yet many of the passengers were allowed to go up and travel,” assistant police inspector Dharmaraj Sonke from Mandwa coastal police station said. All the people booked have been served notices.
The ferry carrying 90 people had capsized near Mandwa in Raigad around 10.15 a.m. on Saturday. All the 85 passengers and five staff on the ferry were rescued and no one was hurt. The ferry had left Gateway of India around 9 a.m. and was one km away from Mandwa jetty, when the incident occurred.
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According to the police, prima facie, the boat hit a rock and water started seeping in, after which an alert was issued.
Constable Prashant Gharat, who was patrolling in a trawler, spotted the sinking ferry and rescued 80 people through the trawler while the 10 were rescued by a speed boat that reached after Mandwa jetty was alerted. “The boat is still stuck in the seabed,” Mr. Sonke said.