Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, now in New Delhi, on Monday ordered an inquiry by the Northern Revenue Divisional Commissioner into Sunday’s boat tragedy in the Hirakud reservoir.
As many as 28 bodies were recovered from the reservoir till Monday evening with three persons still missing. A pall of gloom descended over Sambalpur city as the magnitude of the tragedy unfolded since morning. Responding to the demand by the Opposition in the State Assembly, Parliamentary Minister Kalpataru Das, on behalf of the Revenue and Disaster Management Minister, informed that a total of 146 persons, including 114 members of a picnic party with women and children belonging to the lions Club of Sambalpur, were in the ill-fated boat.
Das said the rescue work was still on but clarified that none of the passengers of the nearby villages was among the dead or missing. He said the Chief Minister has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1.50 lakh out of the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to the next of kin of each dead and free medical treatment to all the injured. The accident issue was raised by leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh, demanding a statement from the Government about the casualties, the missing persons and the search operation.
The Minister said the tragedy occurred at round 4.30 pm on Sunday at the Sonu Tikira Ferry Ghat, about 3 km in the reservoir. The lions Club family members had organised a picnic on an island near the ferry Ghat. After the picnic, the team consisting of women and children sat on a boat at the Tilia Ghat in the nearby Jharsuguda district. There were also two boatmen and around 30 nearby villagers with motorbikes in the boat, he said.
Though the boatman had advised some picnic party members to get down and wait for the next trip as the boat was overloaded, they did not heed to the advice. Halfway, the motor of the boat suddenly stopped working and the vessel could not move forward. There was panic among the passengers as the boat lost its balance. One of the boats after dropping its passengers at the shore rushed to the endangered boat, which was totally filled with water. The panicked passengers tried to get over to the rescue boat simultaneously and the vessel lost its balance in the process and capsized.
With the deployment of five rescue teams, around 80 persons were rescued by 6.30 pm, besides six bodies being recovered. The passengers with critical conditions were also rushed to nearby hospitals, including the VSS Medial Colleges. The Minister said an ODRAF team from Jharsuguda and scuba divers were still continuing the rescue operation on Monday. Besides, a helicopter with telescopic binocular was sent from Bhubaneswar to assist in locating the missing persons and the bodies.
Stating that the ferry Ghat is managed by the Dhankauda Panchayat Samiti, Das said the Ghat was not put to auction last year. After the Sunday’s incident, the boatman of the capsized boat is untraceable and it could not be ascertained immediately whether he had a valid licence. Meanwhile, a team of six scuba divers was on the job to enter into the sunken boat to find out the missing bodies, if any, said Special Relief Commissioner PK Mohapatra. The victims include two relatives of Jharsuguda MlA Naba Das.