Passenger boat capsizes off Mumbai coast with more than 80 on board

A boat carrying 80 passengers and five crew members capsized off the coast of India’s financial capital Mumbai after a speedboat struck it on Wednesday, local and government officials said.

A total of 75 people, and all five crew members, were rescued, while one was dead, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the city’s civic body, in a statement.

Rescue operations for the remaining five people were in progress, it added. Local TV showed rescue workers in lifejackets near the capsized vessel.

A speedboat crashed into the vessel, causing it to capsize, said Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is capital.

Local TV channels showed a speedboat carrying at least five people hitting the passenger vehicle, causing the accident.

“The speedboat crashed into our boat and water started entering our boat and it overturned. The driver asked us to wear lifejackets,” a passenger on board the vessel told ABP Majha news channel.

“I swam for fifteen minutes before I was rescued by another boat,” the passenger, who did not identify himself, said.

The privately-owned passenger boat, called Neelkamal, was heading towards the Elephanta caves, a popular tourist destination off the coast of Mumbai, when it capsized, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.

The caves, which see a steady stream of tourists through the year, are a UNESCO heritage site and were constructed in the 5th to 6th centuries A.D. Boats from the Gateway of India, Mumbai’s southernmost point, make regular trips to ferry tourists to the site, an hour away.

Source: Reuters
--Agencies