Godavari Boat Accident: Death Toll Rising

A double-decker boat carrying as many as seventy-two tourists capsized in swollen Godavari river yesterday. Most of the people were from Hyderabad and Warangal. The incident occurred around 1.30 PM.

The boat started from the boarding point Gandi Pochamma temple at 10 AM in East Godavari district. It reached the other side of the bank to pick up more passengers. At around 11 AM, the boat stopped for breakfast. At 1 PM boat stopped from lunch and then headed to Perantalapalli, which is forty kilometers from the boarding point. Due to imbalance caused by shifting of people, water started entering the boat at around 1.30 - 2 PM and it began to sink. The rescue teams were able to reach the spot between 3 - 4 PM.

Till Sunday night, eight bodies have been recovered and twenty-six people have been rescued. The remaining people are still missing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy expressed their anguish and shock over the tragedy. Jaganmohan announced ex-gratia relief of ten lakhs to the family of the deceased. He is scheduled to visit the place today.

As directed by Jagan, a probe will be conducted to check if the ferry had permission to take tourists. Those who survived reported that the people on-board didn’t wear life jackets. Some wanted to take selfies and they thought life jackets will spoil pictures. Some others were feeling extremely sweaty and they removed the jacket.