As per the latest reports, nearly 9 persons lost their lives when the fishing boat they had boarded capsized near Nipania village in Odisha’s Kendrapara district on Wednesday evening.
While the body of a woman was found shortly after the incident took place on Wednesday evening, eight bodies were recovered during a search operation in the early hours of Thursday.
The deceased have been identified as Prabhati Swain, Ishan Dalei, Sushree Pallavi Swain, Anu Tarai, Sai Tarai, Debashish Sahu, Debasmita Pani, Rojalin Sahu and Dhanu Sahu. Another person, Subhashree Swain, was still missing till last reports came in.
Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakhs each to the next of kin of the deceased and free treatment to the injured ones.
CM @Naveen_Odisha announced ex gratia of ₹ 4 lakhs to the next of kin of the deceased and free treatment to the injured in the boat tragedy at Hukitola.
— CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) January 2, 2019
As many as 55 persons, mostly women and children, of 17 families belonging to Hasina village from neighbouring Jagatsinghpur district had come to Hukitola for a New Year picnic.
They had taken a fishing boat which was not fit for carrying passengers and was meant for a maximum of 20 people. They were returning to their village in the evening when a woman wanted to answer the call of nature. As the boat was anchored in the creek, two more women got down.
The boat turned upside down as all three tried to embark it from the same side. Hearing the shrieks of drowning passengers, the villagers of Nipania rushed to the spot. Braving the cold weather and possible presence of crocodiles in water, locals rescued passengers and retrieved dead bodies.
