The roof of the boat comes off in Rajamahendravaram

Rajamahendravaram: Efforts by Balaji Marine Company to retrieve capsized boat Vasista Royal Punnami from Godavari riverbed at Katchulurumanda did not succeed on the seventh day on Monday.

The company headed by Dharma Satyam brought four deep water divers from Visakhapatnam on Sunday but in vain. On Monday, the divers went near the boat in the river and hooked four big size anchors to it. However, when they tried to pull the boat out, only the roof of the boat came off leaving the hull on the riverbed.

Satyam's team used six iron ropes, one proclainer, a punt and motor launch in their bid. The deep water divers are saying that the boat was at a depth of 38 feet and 600 feet away from the river bank. Moreover, heavy sand was deposited in the boat which has been in the river for 36 days. The team will work for two more days to bring back the boat.

Navy, NDRF and SDRF teams tried in vain to pull out the boat which sank on September 15 with 77 people onboard. Twelve bodies are yet to retrieved.