cities

Updated: Mar 15, 2020 00:33 IST

A ferry carrying 88 passengers capsized off the coast of Mandwa in Raigad on Saturday morning. A police constable, who was patrolling the area, rescued the passengers. There were no casualties in the incident.

The process of salvaging the capsized vessel was stopped on Saturday evening and will resume today.

At around 10.15am, a kilometre from Mandwa jetty, an alarm was raised when passengers noticed the boat had tilted. Police said the attendants on board provided passengers with life jackets.

“Police constable Prashant Gharat, who was aboard a fishing trawler patrolling the coast, noticed people waving for help and directed the trawler to reach the ferry,” said Dharmraj Sonkhe, assistant inspector at Mandwa coastal police station. By the time Gharat reached the ferry, water was filling the vessel’s lower portions.

“We got the children, women and a few foreign nationals on the trawler,” said Gharat, adding that the remaining passengers and attendants were rescued using speedboats that had been pressed into the rescue operation. All passengers and attendants on board were evacuated safely within 10 minutes.

The boat fully capsized afterwards.

The ferry had left Gateway of India in Colaba and was heading to Mandwa. Kifayat Mullah, secretary of Ajanta Ferry Services said, “Either an anchor or a foreign object hit the ferry, which caused a hole at the bottom of the boat.” He said the ferry has been in service for 20 years and has been issued a fitness certificate every year by the Maharashtra Maritime Board. Mullah also clarified that the ferry has the capacity to ferry 98 passengers at a time.

Mandwa coastal police said it will investigate if the boat was well-maintained and if it was carrying more than its capacity.

Vessel collides with jetty

A private vessel drifted and collided with a jetty at INS Karanja in Uran in neighbouring Navi Mumbai on Thursday, said an official.

The vessel, MV Halami Star, drifted after its anchor broke, an official said, though he added that the jetty did not suffer damage.

A check of the ship by Mumbai Port Control and Marine Police did not find anything suspicious.

“The engines of the ship are not working. There are just two crew members on board. The duo raised an alarm when the vessel was drifting and this alerted coastal police and naval personnel,” he said.

The vessel’s owner arrived on Saturday with tug boats and other equipment to remove it, he added.

The INS Karanja is an important naval base housing armament depots of Western Naval Command’s INS Tunir.