MUMBAI: At least 13 people died when an Indian naval boat collided with a passenger ferry with more than 100 passengers which then capsized off the coast of Mumbai on Wednesday, officials said. The navy said 99 people were rescued with efforts ongoing for others.

“An Indian Navy craft lost control while undertaking engine trials in Mumbai harbour due to engine malfunction. As a result, the boat collided with a passenger ferry which subsequently capsized,” the Navy said in a statement on X.

Videos posted by Indian newspapers — apparently filmed by some of the passengers on the crowded ferry — showed the open speedboat cruising through the waters before it turns sharply and rams the ferry.

“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.

“Doctors have declared 13 people dead”, Maharashtra state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters, adding more than 100 people had been rescued. “I pay my heartfelt tributes to those who died in this accident”, Fadnavis said, adding that “we share the grief of their families”.

“A Navy craft undergoing engine trials lost control and collided with a passenger ferry,” India’s navy said in a statement, adding that it regretted the “tragic loss” of lives. The navy said there had been an “engine malfunction”.

The 13 dead included one naval servicemember and two representatives of an equipment manufacturer taking part in the tests, the navy said.

Two people seriously injured were taken to the naval hospital. “Search and rescue efforts were immediately launched”, the navy said, with four naval helicopters flying overhead, while 11 naval craft and four coastguard or police boats searched the waters.

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

“The boat mishap in Mumbai is saddening. Condolences to the bereaved families,” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X late on Wednesday.

Modi also announced an ex-gratia payment of 200,000 rupees ($2,356.63) from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each deceased in the boat accident and that the injured would be given 50,000 rupees.

CM Fadnavis has also announced an ex-gratia of 500,000 rupees for the families of the deceased, according to the Times of India.

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, BMC said.

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

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2024