12 dead in AP boat tragedy

Rajamahendravaram: In a ghastly incident, a tourist boat 'Royal Vasista' carrying about 60 passengers with nine crew members capsized in the swirling waters of Godavari river at Kacchulurumanda village between Pochammagandi and Mantur villages.

The exact number of passengers is not known as some of the survivors claim that there were about 80 passengers. The death toll mounted to 8, even as 25 tourists were rescued till late on Sunday.

However, unofficial re[ports put the dead at 12. Search is on for the missing.

About 25 people, who were wearing life jackets, were saved by the villagers. All those who have been saved have been shifted to a hospital in Rajahmahendravaram. Two drivers of the boat were among those killed.

About 36 passengers in the ill-fated boat were from Telangana. It is said that 22 were from Hyderabad and 14 from Warangal. Of the 14, five are said to be safe.

The boat, belonging to a private operator, was on its way to the picturesque Papikondalu tourist spot. There are different versions on the accident.

According to a version, it met with the accident after colliding with a large rock formation at Kachchuluru in East Godavari district, about 200 km from here. However, some survivors say that nothing had gone wrong with the boat.

They said when the boat capsized some dance programme was taking place on the upper deck of the boat. According to some survivors, one of the reasons for the capsize was perhaps because of the increase in the weight on the upper deck which made the boat tilt resulting in the accident. The boat crew apparently did not guide them properly, it is said.

The booking of the boat is said to have been done online. The boat operators apparently did not inform them that there was no permission to take the boat out. It is learnt that the boat did not have any kind of permissions.

According to the owner of the boat, it had a capacity to carry about 90 passengers and had 150 life jackets. However, the police claim that they had warned the owners not to allow the boat, but they did not listen.

It seems they also claimed that they had permission from Kakinada port. It is not clear if the police had verified the claim and checked the permission papers or not. Official failure is clearly visible in this, Opposition parties say.

Search operations by 140 members of the state disaster response force and NDRF are on despite adverse weather conditions. Rescue teams are facing a challenging task of retrieving the bodies of the boat accident victims from Godavari as the light failed since 6.30 pm.

The NDRF is using special lights to continue the night search operations. The most difficult problem being faced by the rescue teams is tracing the bodies in the night when five lakh cusecs of flood water was gushing in the river.

The rescue teams have to search 60 to 80 km distance, which is not an easy task in the night. NDRF authorities say that unless the boat which was capsized was pulled out it will not be known as to how many passengers were there. It is suspected that all those in the airconditioned room of the boat could not escape.