Mumbai, Dec 19
The search and rescue operations resumed on Thursday morning to trace out at least two tourists still ‘missing’ after an Indian Navy speedboat crashed into a passenger ferry off the Gateway of India in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday evening claiming 13 lives, including that of four naval personnel, officials said.
In one of the worst-ever maritime disasters around Mumbai, 13 people were killed while another 105 were rescued when the chockful ferry, ‘Neelkamal’ was going from Gateway of India to Elephanta Isles, the famed UNESCO World Heritage site and was hit by the Navy speedboat.
An official said that the Indian Navy, Marine Police and other agencies have deployed their vessels to search for the two persons who were thrown into the waters after the deadly collision in mid-sea, around 5 kms from the Gateway of India, in the water channel near the tiny Butcher Island oil terminal.
The Indian Navy officially said that one of its speedboats which was on engine trials developed a snag, the pilot lost control and rammed with full force into the tourist boat, as chilling videos of the incident surfaced late last night.
The passenger boat, a private catamaran named ‘Neelkamal’, was ferrying more than 100 tourists plus five crew members when the disaster struck like a bolt from the blue, around 4 P.M.
Official sources said that the Navy’s rigid inflatable boat undergoing engine trials crashed into the ‘Neelkamal’ at high speed, overturning it and throwing most of the tourists into the sea near Karanja on the Raigad coast, around 10 kms from the origin point, Gateway of India.