Bhopal: Eleven people drowned when two boats carrying them capsized during Ganesh idol immersion in Lower Lake of this city, a senior police official said Friday.
The incident took place on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday in Khatlapura on the banks of the Lower Lake, Deputy Inspector General of Police Irshad Wali stated. Eleven people died in the incident while six were rescued, Bhopal Collector Tarun Kumar Pithode informed. A magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident, Pithode said.
Seventeen people were going on two separate boats for the immersion of the Ganesh idol at Khatlapura ghat when the incident took place at around 4.30am, the collector stated.
Initially, the first boat tilted and when the people on the other one saw it, they tried to save it, but to no avail. In the process, the other boat also tilted sideways and both capsized, an official said.
Teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC), local police, and the citizens swung into action and rescued six persons, the official said. But since it was early morning it took some time for the authorities to launch the rescue effort.
Locals however, said that there were 23 people on the two boats and that six are still missing. They also said that most of them were in the age group of 27-28 years and that none wore life jackets.
Those who breathed their last were residents of 100 quarters of Piplani, BHEL township. The Municipal Corporation said the rescue operation is being handled by its divers.
Chief Minister Kamal Nath has announced an ex gratia of Rs 4,00,000 to each of the kin of the deceased and ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.
Agencies