The ship, which was carrying 29 people, capsized during a cruise in Jabalpur. Twenty-four passengers have so far been rescued from the water, according to officials.
Survivors of the Bargi Dam boat tragedy in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, have alleged glaring safety lapses and warnings were ignored moments before the vessel capsized, describing scenes of panic, chaos and people “screaming for help” as water quickly filled the boat.
Many of them said that passengers had not been given life jackets in advance, and that the operator’s repeated pleas to head to safety in the strong winds had fallen on deaf ears.
Nine people have died and several others are still missing after the tour boat capsized on Thursday. The ship, which was carrying 29 people, capsized during a cruise intended for tourists. Twenty-four passengers have so far been rescued from the water, according to officials.
The bodies of the dead were recovered and sent for post-mortem examination. Search and rescue operations continued on Friday, as officials struggled to track down the remaining passengers.
“It was really windy. We asked the boat operator to come to the other end, but he didn’t care,” Samrat, who was present at the site and involved in the rescue efforts, told news agency ANI.
He added, “The boat started on the other side but capsized in the middle of the dam. A few people wearing life jackets jumped out of the boat. We rescued about 15 to 16 people safely. We took them to the hospital. The bodies were removed.”
Sangeeta Kori, a tourist from Delhi, described the panic. “No one was forced to wear life jackets beforehand,” she told PTI. According to her, chaos broke out as soon as water entered the boat and life jackets were hastily distributed.
She said: “There was a lot of negligence. The boat captain was not listening at all. People in the village were shouting and signaling him to move the trip to a safer place, but he continued to move in the same way, which led to it suddenly capsizing.”
Another eyewitness, Tuhin, described repeated warnings that were ignored before the boat capsized.
He said: “We were sitting here after eating a meal. It was windy. The boat was shaking. People asked the boat operator to pull the boat alongside us and stabilize it here. But he didn’t care. He took the boat in the middle of the water again, and it capsized. Some people helped us get out… I saved 5-6 people.”
Survivors described scenes of panic and lack of safety measures.
A passenger told ANI: “My son and wife are missing. I was injured when the boat’s mirror broke after hitting a wave. The staff did not provide us with life jackets, but we arranged and distributed them ourselves.”
Scenes from the site also showed the bodies of a woman and a child who were found tied together in a life jacket.
One person remembers how his entire family was swept away in moments when the weather suddenly turned violent. He said his wife, mother-in-law and grandson “disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.” “The boat became unbalanced and soon started filling with water,” he told NDTV.
“No one could understand what was happening,” he told the channel. “There was screaming…the boat was sinking and people were crying for help.” “I was drowning too. It looked like I was going to die.”
An eyewitness said the boat was already partially submerged when they arrived at the scene. “When we reached the spot, we saw that one side of the boat had already sunk,” he told news agency IANS.
He also confirmed that the victims were recovered from the water. He added: “We also recovered four women who died and transferred their bodies to the ambulance for further procedures.”
One of them narrated that he was trapped underwater for about two hours before he was rescued. He told NDTV that he was “stuck in a place where only my head was above water.” He added: “I could see bodies floating in front of me.”
Among the bodies recovered were eight women and a child. The authorities announced compensation to the families of the victims. The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) will make a donation of Rs $2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased, while the injured will be received $50,000.
Jabalpur CSP Ashish Jain said the identification and autopsy process is being handled with urgency and coordination.
