What began as pilgrimage, turned into a nightmare for several families from Punjab as boat carrying tourists capsized in Yamuna in Vrindavan on Friday, leaving 10 people dead, 22 injured and five missing. Of the 10 who died, nine are from Punjab and one from Haryana.
Of the nine deceased from Punjab, five are from Jagraon, a small semi-rural town of Punjab’s Ludhiana district from where two buses carrying at least 132 pilgrims had left for Vrindavan on Thursday. A group of 25-30 pilgrims decided to go boating at Keshi Ghat on Yamuna river where the tragedy struck after the boat reportedly crashed into a floating pontoon drum.
The tragedy has left several families shattered with deceased including two couples, a mother-son duo among others. The deceased were identified as Kavita Rani and her son Madhur Bahl of Jagraon (Kavita’s husband Vijay survived), Charanjit and his wife Pinky of Jagraon, Rakesh Gulati and his wife Anju of Ludhiana’s Dugri, Sapna Hans of Moga, Ishaan Kataria of Jagraon, Asha Rani of Hisar (Haryana), Meenu Bansal of Ludhiana.
A purported video of the pilgrims riding the boat, moments before the tragedy struck, emerged on the social media. Pilgrims were seen clapping and chanting “Radhe Radhe”. None of the passengers on board the motorised boat had life jackets.
Majority of 132 pilgrims were from Jagraon, while some others hailed from nearby districts such as Muktsar, Moga etc. The tour was organized by the local Banke Bihari Club of Jagraon, which takes pilgrims to Vrindavan almost every year.
“No negligence on the part of tour organizers — Lavi and Yashu — has come before so far,” Jagraon DSP Jaswinder Singh Dhindsa to The Indian Express.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Shwet Jain, 32, a resident of Shastri Nagar, and an eyewitness to the tragedy, said that he and his mother Rekha Jain, 50, were in the boat when it suddenly crashed into a pontoon drum. While Shwet received serious rib injuries, his mother Rekha is now battling for life in the ICU of Ram Mission Hospital, Vrindavan.
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“My mother wanted to visit Vrindavan as my sister recently got married. Today, she is battling for her life in the ICU. Doctors say she is on a ventilator. Water has entered her lungs,” said Shwet, who works at a mobile phone shop in Jagraon.
Fighting back tears, Shwet, while describing the tragedy, said: “A group of 30-32 pilgrims decided to go boating. There were two boats. They shifted 8-10 in another boat and 20-22 of us were in one boat. There were no safety arrangements. The boatman was trying to push the pontoon drum with the boat. It was equally his fault. My mother and I were admitted to different hospitals. Our phones have been damaged in water and I have just purchased a new phone. Even the hospital authorities where my mother is admitted are asking for money.”
Several other pilgrims were from Gita Colony of Jagraon. Sonu Kumar, 45, one of the pilgrims, said: “We checked into a hotel around 11 am. I was in a hotel while some others went to visit temples and 30-32 went boating. I did not go boating but eyewitnesses said that the boatman crashed the boat into a floating pontoon and it capsized.”
Ludhiana deputy commissioner Himanshu Jain has urged residents not to spread rumours or create panic as District Administration Ludhiana as well as the Punjab government is already in touch with authorities in Vrindavan.
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He informed that for the help of people, a 24×7 dedicated helplines, numbers 01624223226 (SDM Jagraon office) and 01612403100 (Deputy Commissioner Office Ludhiana) have also been set up at Jagraon as well as District Headquarters Ludhiana.
Vijay, a resident of Geeta Colony in Jagraon, one of the survivors of the boat tragedy, has lost his wife and son.
According to Vijay, a group of around 30–32 devotees set out on Thursday morning to pay obeisance at the samadhi of Devraha Baba and took a boat to cross Yamuna.
The big boat developed a fault midstream, after which passengers were shifted to smaller boats. At the same time, a temporary pontoon bridge floating in the river began to move with the water current.
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“In a matter of seconds, the bridge struck our boat like a storm. It overturned and people started screaming for help,” Vijay said.
Pawan Kumar Kataria, grandfather of Ishan Kataria, one of the victims, said his grandson was just 25 years old and was unmarried.
In Vrindavan, a young survivor said, “We told the boatman two to three times to slow down…The wind was strong, and the boat was moving too fast. But he didn’t listen.” According to him, around 25 to 27 people were crammed into the boat, far beyond its reported capacity of about 15. None of them was given a life jacket.
As the boat approached a pontoon bridge, passengers again warned the boatman to stop. “We could see the bridge ahead and asked him to slow down. Twice, the boat narrowly avoided hitting it. The third time, it crashed,” another survivor said.
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The boat lost balance after hitting the pontoon and overturned, throwing everyone into the deep waters, estimated to be around 30 feet deep. “There was chaos. People screaming, struggling to stay afloat,” the survivor said. “We kept shouting for help, asking someone to call divers.
Rescue, when it came, was led not just by official teams but by nearby boatmen, workers repairing the pontoon bridge and locals. Some survivors credit these locals and divers for pulling them out of the river in time. “We were all family, relatives together,” the survivor said, his voice trailing off. “Some have been rescued, but many are still missing or in hospitals. Everything happened in the blink of an eye,” one survivor said.
District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh has confirmed 10 deaths so far, with around 16 people rescued. However, families at the site fear the toll could rise, claiming that five to six members of their group are still unaccounted for.
The injured have been admitted to nearby hospitals, while search operations involving police, SDRF, fire services, civil defence personnel, the Army and local divers continued late into the night. NDRF teams are also expected to join the efforts.
WITH PTI
