Godavari boat accident: 34 bodies retrieved, 13 missing

Hyderabad: After a private tourist boat carrying 73 passengers capsized in River Godavari on Sunday, the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management has confirmed that 34 bodies have been retrieved. Apart from the 26 passengers — 24 males and two females — that were saved, 13 are still missing.

The 34 bodies — including 24 male, eight female and three children — were retrieved after three days of search operations. After completing the post mortem procedures, the bodies were handed over to relatives.

Currently, a specialised deep diver’s team utilising a Side Scan Sonar from Uttarakhand is engaged in the rescue operations alongside the Uttarakhand Disaster Response Force (DRF) team. The team located the sunken boat near Katchuluru (Latitude: 17°22’6.672” N, Longitude: 81°36’17.712” E) at a depth of 210 ft. Besides, a team of two from Mumbai (Marine Masters Company Pvt. Ltd.) are engaged in searching the boat for the missing bodies.

Included in the search and rescue operations are six fire teams from East and West Godavari Districts with eight IR boats, 12 Aska Lights and one satellite phone; two National DRF and three State DRF Teams are engaged in rescue operations with all necessary pieces of equipment. A crew of deep divers from the Indian Navy are actively participating in the operations.