E-Paper
Panic, dead bodies floating, negligence: Survivors recount Jabalpur boat tragedy
The vessel, carrying 29 people, overturned during a cruise in Jabalpur. Twenty-four passengers have so far been rescued from the water, as per officials.
Survivors of the Bargi Dam boat tragedy in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur have alleged glaring safety lapses and ignored warnings moments before the vessel capsized, describing scenes of panic, chaos, and people “crying for help” as water rapidly filled the boat.
Several said passengers were not given life jackets in advance and that repeated pleas to the operator to steer to safety amid strong winds went unheeded.
Nine people have died and several others remain missing after the cruise boat capsized on Thursday. The vessel, carrying 29 people, overturned during a cruise activity meant for tourists. Twenty-four passengers have so far been rescued from the water, as per officials.
Bodies of the dead were recovered and sent for postmortem examination. Search and rescue operations continued on Friday as officials struggled to trace remaining passengers.
“It was really windy. We told the boat operator to come to the other end, but he paid no heed,” Samrat, who was present at the site and took part in rescue efforts, told news agency ANI.
“It started on the other side but capsized in the middle of the dam. A few people in life jackets jumped off the boat. We safely rescued about 15-16 people. We rushed them to the hospital. The bodies were taken away,” he said.
Sangeeta Kori, a tourist from Delhi, described the panic. “No one was made to wear life jackets beforehand,” she told PTI. According to her, chaos erupted once water began entering the boat and life jackets were distributed in a rush.
“There was a lot of negligence. The pilot of the boat wasn’t listening at all. People from the village were shouting and signaling him to bring the cruise to a safer side, but he kept going the same way, which caused it to overturn suddenly,” she said.
Another eyewitness, Tuhin, described repeated warnings being ignored before the boat overturned.
He said, “We were sitting here after having a meal. It was windy. The boat was shaking. People told the boat operator to pull the boat to our side and anchor it here. But he paid no heed. He took the boat in the middle of the water once again, and it capsized. We helped a few people in coming out... I rescued 5-6 people.”
Survivors have described scenes of panic and lack of safety measures.
A passenger told ANI, “My son and wife are missing. I got hurt when the mirror on the cruise boat broke after hitting a wave. The staff did not provide us with life jackets; we arranged them and distributed them ourselves.”
Visuals from the site also showed bodies of a woman and child found tied together in a life jacket.
A person recalled 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 was becoming unbalanced and, in no time, started filling up with water,” he told NDTV.
“No one could understand what was happening. There was screaming… the boat was sinking and people were crying for help,” he told the channel. “I was also drowning. It seemed I was going to die.”
An eyewitness said the boat was already partly submerged when they reached the spot. “When we reached the spot, we saw that one side of the boat had already sunk,” he told news agency IANS.
He also confirmed recovering victims from the water. “We also recovered four women who had died and took their bodies to the ambulance for further procedures,” he said.
Someone recounted being trapped underwater for nearly two hours before being rescued. He told NDTV he was “stuck in a spot where only my head was above water.” “I could see bodies floating past me,” he added.
Among the recovered bodies were eight women and a child. Authorities have announced compensation for victims’ families. The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) will provide an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh to the next of kin of each dead, while injured persons will receive ₹50,000.
Jabalpur CSP Ashish Jain said the identification and postmortem process is being handled with urgency and coordination.
