Boat crash in Karnataka: 8 people drowned after the capsizing of a boat off the coast of Karwar; efforts to save others | Bengaluru News

KARWAR: Eight people drowned and seven disappeared after a boat carrying worshipers traveling to Narasimha Jatra on the Kurmagad Island off Karwar capsized Monday afternoon.

A total of 33 people were aboard the boat when it capsized. While seven are missing, 18 were rescued by fishermen and the Indian coastguard. Police and coast guards are looking for the rest of the victims. The bodies of the deceased were found.

Kurmagad, an island in the Oman Sea located 3 km from the coast of Karwar, has a temple that only opens two days a year. More than 25,000 people visit the island every year to offer puja. The faithful include mainly coastal and northern Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra residents.

According to Darshan Shirodkar, embarked on the capsized boat, they returned to Karwar around 3 pm after offering puja to the Narasimha temple of Kurmagad Island. When the mechanized boat arrived near the confluence of the Arabian Sea and the Kali River, the high tide was relieved and the helmsman reduced the speed of the boat and stopped it. After a few minutes, when he tried to move the boat, the boat leaned to one side. There was heckling and those who were on the panic boat tried to come to the opposite side and the boat capsized. “ The boat did three laps in the water and I went in the water, but I managed to hold the end of the boat. Eight others who knew swimming clung to the boat too much. The rest was washed away. We sat in the middle of the sea on the capsized boat for 20 minutes, "he said.

"There were about five to six other boats carrying believers trying to save the population. But the pbadengers of these boats were so panicked that the boat drivers dared not come near us. The local fishermen rushed to us and saved us. I am unable to recover from the shock, "he added.

Roopali Naik, MP for Karwar, who also returned from the temple, could only bring six people aboard his boat.

Fishermen and Coast Guard police rushed to the scene and saved the people who were hanging on the capsized boat. Senior district administration officials, including the CEOs of DC, SP and ZP, rushed to the hospital. The bodies received by the police were transferred to the Medical College and the wounded are treated.

The search for the rest of the victims is open. The deceased were identified as Nilesh Rohidas Pednekar, Jayashri Kotharkar, Ganapati Kotharkar, Annakka Ingalkar, all from Karwar, Geeta Janamejay Talekar from Ponda, Goa, Arun (4), Bharathi and Manjavva Somu from Shiggavi District,

The missing were identified as Prasappa Beluvalakoppa, a resident of Kusthagi, Koppal district, and his three children, Sanjeevi, Soujanya, Sandeep and Geeta Hulaswar, Keerti and Kiran.

The Minister of Finance, R. V Deshpande, went to Karwar shortly after the incident and said that out of the 33 pbadengers on the boat, eight were drowned and seven missing. In his press release, the Indian coastguard said that two interceptors and a coast guard helicopter had been pressed into the search and rescue operation service. The Indian Navy launched the Dornier of Goa for the search operation; the spokesman of the Indian Navy tweeted.

The owner of the boat, Nagaraj, had registered his boat with the Department of Tourism and the boat was transporting tourists to the island. But on Monday, the boat was carrying the faithful.