A boat travelling on the Kali river returning from a local festival in Kurumgad island near Karwar capsized on Monday afternoon, leaving eight people dead. The victims were travelling back from the island after attending the festival in honour of Lord Narasimha at the Sree Narasimha Devi Temple, when the boat capsized around 2.15 pm. The temple, which is on the island, is opened in January for the festival which is a major attraction for thousands of devotees.
Officials of the Coast Guard and Indian Navy swung into action immediately after they were alerted about the incident while helicopters were also pressed into service. "Two helicopters along with two boats of Coast Guard, two boats of the Indian Navy and six additional boats were immediately deployed after the incident came to our notice," confirmed Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner.
Chetak Helicopter CH 495 went airborne from Goa at 5.05 pm while divers with equipment also arrived at the scene of the incident to help with the rescue operation.
#IndianNavy launches SAR operation off Karwar bridge in Kali River, under direction of FOK. As per reports, One ferry boat capsized with 24 persons. #IndianNavy Chetak helicopter CH 495 from Goa airborne at 1705. Divers ex Goa on the way with equipment to augment Divers at Karwar
— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) January 21, 2019
16 people were rescued from the boat in which 24 people were travelling. The rescued persons were identified as Neeta Peddekara, Neha Padnakara, Radha, Vaibhaya Raikar, Mahesh Shetty, Adarsh Shirodkar and Darshan Shirodkar. They were immediately taken to the District Hospital in Karwar. The boat of Karwar-Ankola MLA Rupali Naik was used in the rescue operations as she was nearby when the incident occurred.
Eight people including five women and three men were killed in the incident however. Six of the eight victims have been identified by the investigating officials.
Clip from the accident site pic.twitter.com/YaimmvykyD
— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) January 21, 2019
