Boat capsize: Govt hands over Rs 4 lakh cheque to families of deceased

Dhenkanal/Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Tuesday handed over a cheque of Rs 4 lakh to the families of four deceased, who were drowned after a boat they were traveling in capsized in Brahmani river of Dhenkanal district on Monday.

According to reports, compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to four families has been provided from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund after the order of chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Earlier in the day, the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) directed the district collector to probe into the incident and submit its report.

“The boat was carrying 30-35 passengers from Surapratappur village to Daudeswar Shiva temple in Gondia which capsized in Brahmani river. The boat left the Chandipal Ghat for its destination which is not a government-auctioned Ghat. District Collector has been asked to probe into the matter and efforts are on to trace the four missing persons,” SRC Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra informed.

Notably, the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) team has recovered a body a woman this afternoon from Mandar Ghat area of the district while there still two more persons are missing.

“The two teams of ODRAF are continuing their search opreration to trace the missing persons. If there is a need of more rescue workers then we will make the arrangements. The district police is on the job to trace the absconding boatman. I want to clarify that people who were on the boat boarded forcibly despite warning from the boatman about the dilapidated state of the boat. The boat which was there at the ghat was a defunt one and was rejected by the authorities for ferrying. However, on Monday, some people forcibly boarded another fishermen boat which was not apt for ferrying passengers,” said Dhenkanal Collector, Rupa Roshan Sahoo.

The incident occurred when villagers of Surapatrapur of Bhuban block were on their way through the Chandipal Ghat on Brahmani River to worship at Goudeswar Mahadev on the occasion of Mahashivratri yesterday.

According to sources, the boat lost its balance and capsized. Two persons were rescued while six others went missing, said sources.

While a few people swam back to shore, the two rescued were sent to hospital. One of the rescued girls identified as Rubina Rout, aged 18 years, died at the hospital. The other girl is undergoing treatment. Today morning, body of a nine-year-old identified as Satyanarayan Swain.