Odisha boat tragedy toll reaches 24, probe ordered

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BOAT11Bhubaneswar, Feb 10: The toll in Sunday’s Hirakud reservoir boat tragedy in Odisha rose to 24 with rescuers retrieving more bodies Mon, officers said.

“Thirteen bodies were retrieved nowadays (Monday). though no one yet is aware of the exact number of missing people, it’s estimated that at least seven are still missing,” state Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Mohapatra told.

Mohapatra earlier place the number of those missing at 10. The figure was revised on the basis of the latest information provided by the survivors.

More fire fighters and Odisha Disaster rapid Action Force units joined the operation Mon and the rescue and salvage process has since been intensified.

A six-member diver team also joined the crew and they were trying to enter the sunken boat to find those missing.

The boat that went down in the Hirakud Dam reservoir, concerning 350 km from the capital Bhubaneswar, around 4.30 p.m. Sunday, was carrying more than 100 people against a capability of 70. Most of the passengers were picnickers.

The accident occurred once the people from Sambalpur and nearby areas were returning once a picnic on the opposite aspect of the reservoir.

Eyewitnesses said the mechanized boat capsized in the middle of the reservoir once water entered into it following a snag. The passengers tried hard to drain out the water from the boat, but in vain.

Many of the picnickers jumped off the boat in panic. They said the boat didn’t have basic safety measures.

Ordering an inquiry into the tragedy, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced an ex-gratia of Rs.1.5 lakh to the next of kin of each of these dead. The Odisha government will bear the price of the treatment of the survivors.

He also deputed Odisha finance minister Prasanna Acharya and Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patro to the affected region to review the situation.

Congress vp Rahul Gandhi, who is in the state on a two-day tour since Sunday, also took an aerial view of the tragedy site. Gandhi is scheduled  to meet the survivors and hold discussions with the local officials.

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