Karwar boat tragedy: Death toll mounts to 14, rescue ops continue for third day
The death toll in the boat capsize tragedy near Karwar in coastal Karnataka rose to 14, with six more bodies including that of three children, being recovered by Tuesday evening. A lookout for at least one more individual is still on. Since Tuesday morning, divers, three boats of the Coast Guard, two helicopters and one aircraft of the Indian Navy were pressed into service for search and rescue operations.
The six deceased have been identified as Kiran Somappa Belavalagoppa (6) of Hosur, Shiggaon taluk, Haveri district, Parashuram (35), Sanjeevini (15), Sowjanya (12), Shreyas Pavaskar (28) of Sunkeri, Karwar and Geetha Hulaskar (23). Most of the deceased hail from Haveri district.
The tragedy occurred on Monday afternoon at around 2:15pm when the victims were travelling back from an island after attending a festival in honour of Lord Narasimha at the Sree Narasimha Devi temple. The temple, which is on an island, opens in January for the festival which is a major attraction for thousands of devotees.
Eighteen people were rescued at the time of the tragedy by other boats, fishermen and Indian Coast Guard passing through the area.
In a tweet on Monday, the official Twitter handle of the Defence Ministry also confirmed the same. Of the 33 passengers, 18 were immediately rescued - 14 by local fishermen & 4 by @IndiaCoastGuard. 8 bodies have been recovered till now and the search is on for 7 passengers still missing.”
Diving teams from Karwar Naval Area have also been deployed.
— Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) January 21, 2019
Of the 33 passengers, 18 were immediately rescued - 14 by local fishermen & 4 by @IndiaCoastGuard. 8 bodies have been recovered till now and the search is on for 7 passengers still missing. (3/3) @nsitharaman
For rescue and relief operations, five police teams were formed in addition to divers of the Tagore Beach Development Committee, Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy which were pressed into operation.
Chittakula Police have booked boat owner Dayanand Ram Jadhav, Gokuldas Ram Jadhav, Mahendra Jagadeesh Jadhav and Yeshwanth Chopdeka.
