Karwar Boat Tragedy: Last Body Found near Murdeshwar

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, January 28, 2019: The body of last missing person in Karwar Boat Tragedy has been found by personnel belonging to Coastal Security Police, Bhatkal, according to reliable information reaching here. Coast Guard ship C420 had also been deployed for the search yesterday and today, but the Coastal Security Police of Bhatkal managed to find the body first.

The body was discovered and retrieved today from near Netrani, Murdeshwar.

The dead victim is identified as Sandeep, son of Parasappa Belabalkoppa. In fact the family bore four casualties in the tragedy with the father as well as Sandeep’s sisters Sanjeevi and Soujanya having succumbed earlier. All were declared missing on the first day and their bodies were recovered in subsequent search operation by Coast Guard and Navy.

The recovery of the last body brings the gruesome incident to a closure after a full eight days.

Meanwhile the new figures released by the district administration has set the death toll at 16 persons, making it one of the worst disasters at sea in recent times. It is also now confirmed that a total of 35 persons were involved in the tragedy, of whom 15 were rescued by local fishermen and 4 were saved by Indian Coast Guard patrols.

It may be recalled that ‘Sree Rameshwar Prasan’, a ferry carrying 35 pilgrims capsized at sea off the coast of Karwar at 2:15 p.m. on last Monday, 21st January while returning from Kurumgad Island, located 4 km into the Arabian Sea. The victims were returning after participating in annual Narshimha Dev festival of Narasimha temple which is located on the island.

It is learned that the ferry was overloaded beyond its carrying capacity and the passengers were also not provided with safety measures like life jackets. Lack of safety jackets is a prime reason for incurring high casualties in case of accidents, according to Coast Guard sources.