The bodies of all six missing persons drowned in the country boat capsize on Saturday evening were fished out from the Chilika lake on Sunday.
The search and rescue operation by Fire Services personnel, an ODRAF team and naval divers was completed with recovery of four missing bodies in the morning, with two bodies having been recovered on Saturday. Among the dead were three women and three children.
The deceased were identified as Pramodini Das, her daughter Sradhanjali Das (8), Meera Pattnaik (11), Suchitra Mohanty (7), Kalpana Mohanty (21) and Sudhansusekhar Das (4).
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed deep grief over the loss of lives in the boat tragedy and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved families. Patnaik announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of the deceased. He also announced free medical treatment for the injured.
The tragedy occurred at around 5.30 pm on Saturday when the boat carrying 18 persons including a boatman was returning from the Kalijai temple to Balugaon.
Chilika boat tragedy: All 6 missing persons’ bodies found
The passengers were from Nayagarh and Bhubaneswar.
The boat capsized due to thunderstorm accompanied by strong winds over the lake. The onlookers, volunteers and fire brigade personnel rescued 12 persons. The injured persons were rushed to the Balugaon Community Health Centre (CHC). later, two of the were shifted to the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar after their conditions deteriorated.
The boatman absconded after the incident and police were still on the lookout for him.
locals alleged that despite the rules, the boat did not carry lifejackets which have been made mandatory by the Government. lifejackets would have saved the six lives, they said.