MP boat capsize: Bodies of all seven victims recovered; search operation ends

The authorities on Wednesday recovered the bodies of all seven persons including four children who drowned after a boat carrying them capsized in Matatila dam in Madhya Pradeshs Shivpuri district a day ago police saidThe incident occurred on Tuesday evening when the boat was carrying 15 persons to a temple located on the island in the dam that falls within the limits of the Khaniyadhana police station police officials saidWhile eight persons were rescued with the help of villagers seven others went missing in the water they saidPichhores Sub Divisional Officer of Police SDOP Prashant Sharma said the rescue operations were carried out throughout the night and the bodies of all seven victims were recovered till Wednesday eveningThe body of a 15yearold girl named Kumkum was the last one to be found It was fished out in the evening he saidThe bodies of six other deceased identified as Kanha 7 Shiva 8 Chayna 14 Ramdevi 35 Leela 40 and Sharda 55 were recovered earlier in the day he saidA 14yearold boy Johnson Lodhi who was on board the illfated boat showed courage and saved his mother and aunt from drowning by holding them in water till the rescue boat arrived the district administration said in a statementThe boy not only saved his own life but he also succeeded in saving the lives of his mother and aunt it saidTalking to PTI Ramdevi a survivor said water started gushing into the boat from the bottom causing it to tilt on one side in no timeShe said although she did not know how to swim she just started moving her hands in the water out of desperation and she was saved by a boat that arrived at the spot soon afterRamdevi said that she was pulled into the boat that came to rescue the victimsEyewitnesses said that out of eight persons three swam to safety while five others were rescued by two men identified as Shital Jatav and Pran SinghJatav said that as soon as he noticed that the boat was capsizing he took another boat and reached the spot along with Pran SinghThere they started helping the affected persons to get on board their boat he saidTalking to reporters from the site of the incident Shivpuri district collector Ravindra Kumar Chaudhary said efforts were made by rescuers to trace the victims at night but the bodies were recovered on WednesdayPeople visit the temple located on the island in the dam to offer prayers especially during the Holi and Rang Panchmi festivals he saidThe boat involved in the incident was a small one made of wood The incident might have been caused either due to water entering the boat or an imbalance it suffered he saidThe administration will take steps to prevent such incidents from happening in the future the collector saidThose who rescued eight persons will be awarded he saidOn Tuesday night Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the deadThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever