In Mumbai, a joyride that turned fatal

It was at noon on December 18 that Tanvi Wakchaure saw her father, Deepchand, for the last time. Deepchand, a 45-year-old plumber, had dropped Tanvi, 17, at college in Govandi, an eastern suburb of Mumbai. He did not tell her where he was headed to next.

When he did not return by night, Deepchand’s family, who live in the same area, started getting worried. “We began calling his friends one by one,” says Tanvi.

They learned that Deepchand, an avid explorer, had boarded a ferry to Elephanta Island, located 9 nautical miles off the coast of Mumbai from the Gateway of India. Every day, about 3,000 people visit the UNESCO world heritage site, says Sardar J. Mahadkar, president of Jal Vahatuk Sahakari Santha Maryadit, an organisation representing ferry owners. The island is home to the rock-cut Elephanta Caves, which were constructed in the mid-5th and 6th centuries AD and reflect Hindu and Buddhist iconography.

“He liked to explore the city,” says Deepchand’s friend, Chandrakant Hevale. “That happened to be one of those days. When we found out that he had boarded the ferry and there had been an accident in the Arabian Sea, we rushed to the Colaba police station in the early hours of December 19.” The Colaba police station is located about 600 metres from the Gateway of India.

The police asked the family and friends to go to the state-owned J.J. Hospital. On rushing to the hospital, the family found Deepchand’s body.

“Just a day earlier, he and my mother had celebrated their wedding anniversary,” remembers a distraught Tanvi.

At around 3.30 p.m. on December 18, an Indian Navy speedboat had rammed into the passenger ferry not far from Elephanta Island. The ferry capsized. Thirteen people, including Deepchand, died. Two remained missing. On December 19 and 21, their bodies were also recovered. The death toll increased to 15.

In deep water

Every day, during the off season (the rainy months of July-October), at least 25-30 rides are scheduled from the Gateway of India, an arch built in the Indo-Islamic style in the 20th century to commemorate the landing of King George V in India, to Elephanta Caves. During holiday season (October-January), this number increases to 50 or even 100, says Sardar.

On December 18, the last ferry of the day, Neel Kamal (blue lotus), had left the Gateway at 3:00 p.m. Neel Kamal had a capacity of 80 passengers, but it was carrying 110-115 passengers that day, says an investigation officer on the case from the Colaba police station.

Natharam Chaudhry, 24, a carpenter based in Kurla, was on the upper deck, enjoying the breeze, when the ferry was around 20 minutes from its destination, the Gharapuri jetty at Elephanta Island. He says many of his co-passengers were lounging on the lower deck.

Natharam was among the first to spot the Navy speedboat, but there seemed to be no cause for alarm. “I was fascinated, so I started shooting the speedboat with my phone camera,” he says.

The speedboat took two sharp turns before hurtling towards the ferry. It rammed into the right side of the vessel “with a loud bang, like an earthquake,” Natharam recollects. “We ran downstairs. The ferry started sinking on the right side, so all the passengers congregated on the left side.”

Realising that there was no way he could balance himself on the sinking ferry, Natharam grabbed a life jacket, strapped it on, and jumped with his cousin and uncle into the cold water.

“The moment I jumped in, I thought of my parents. I panicked about what they would do without me. People were in the water shouting for help,” he says.

Natharam went blank for a bit after that, but it was this quick-thinking action that saved his life. His uncle and cousin survived too.

Survivors allege that the ferry did not have enough life jackets. One survivor says, “The people who managed to access life jackets managed to live, while some others drowned.”

Natharam was the complainant in the First Information Report (FIR) registered at the Colaba police station against the Navy speedboat which was carrying two Navy personnel and four workers. The driver of the Navy speedboat has been booked under Sections 106(1) (causing death by negligence), 125 (actions that endanger personal safety), 282 (rash navigation of a vessel), and 324 (mischief causing damage to government or local authority property) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Natharam’s video is now being treated as evidence by the police.

Within a few hours of the accident, the Indian Navy released a statement. It said that the speed boat, which was undergoing engine trials, “lost control and collided with a passenger ferry, Neel Kamal, off Karanja, Mumbai.”

A Defence spokesperson explained the accident: “The throttle (acceleration) was stuck in the top position, preventing them from taking a turn or slowing down the boat.”

Of the 115 people who were rescued, 13 people — one Navy personal and 12 civilians, including three workers on the speedboat — were declared dead by Mumbai’s civic body and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. By December 21, two missing bodies were recovered from the sea.

The Chief Minister announced financial assistance of ₹5 lakh to the families of the dead. The Prime Minister’s Office also announced an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh for each family of the dead and ₹50,000 for the injured from the Prime Minister National Relief Fund. The Indian Navy has constituted a Board of Inquiry to investigate the accident.

The rescue operation

The survivors say they received help within 20-30 minutes of the accident.

A Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) patrol boat and a Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) pilot boat were the first to reach the spot. “We heard people screaming for help. We saw some people holding children tight and some clutching on to the boat, which was partially submerged in the water. We first focused on rescuing children,” says a CISF officer, who was patrolling a 2-3 kilometre radius from the accident spot.

The officer says the biggest challenge was oil spillage. “The diesel from the ferry had spilled on the passengers. It became difficult for us to hold them and haul them up from the water as they kept slipping from our hands.”

The captain of the JNPA pilot boat, Anmol Shrivastav, says he heard a distress call on radio channels 12 and 13 from an oil tanker, Tony, moored at Jawahar Dweep 5, a jetty at the Jawahar Dweep oil terminal on an island off the coast of Mumbai. The tanker reported that a ferry was sinking and requested urgent assistance.

“I checked my location and realised that I was only about five minutes from the incident site. When I reached the spot, I found that nearly 95% of the ferry had sunk. Approximately 50 people, including children, were clinging to the tiny bit that remained above water. There were 20-25 people floating nearby. Some were wearing life jackets and some were not,” says Anmol.

Eleven Navy boats, three Marine Police boats, two Coast Guard boats, and four helicopters were also deployed in the area for the search-and-rescue operation, says a Defence spokesperson.

Along with the help of CISF personnel, the JNPA rescued 57 people, says Anmol. “The CISF’s boat was lower in the water, allowing easier transfers. Together, we created a chain of rescue operations. The CISF pulled people from the water and transferred them to our pilot boat.”

Later, the Mumbai Port Authority (MPA) pilot boat, Purva; the Naval ferry, Suvidha; and two fishing boats also began assisting in the rescue operations. Arif Bamne, a master (boat driver) with the MPA, says, “All we could hear was ‘bachao bachao (help, help)’. It felt like a scene from a film. A foreign couple helped us in rescuing people and performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on those who were critical.” The MPA helped in rescuing at least 35 passengers, he says.

The passengers also helped one another. “A German man who knew how to swim well helped rescue a three-year-old child and gave him CPR. He also helped us rescue other passengers,” says Anmol.

All the passengers were taken to the JNPT Hospital, the Navy Dockyard, Ashwini Hospital, St George’s Hospital, and Karanja Hospital. The passengers were mostly from other districts, including Sangli, Dhule, Nagpur, and Nashik; and Goa and other regions.

The autopsy of 11 out of the 15 dead was carried out at the Indira Gandhi Rural Hospital in Uran in Navi Mumbai. “The reason for the death was asphyxiation due to drowning,” said Medical Superintendent Dr.B.M Kalel. The rest were taken to J.J. Hospital.

Navy personnel Karmveer Yadav is still in a critical stage and undergoing treatment. Two people, a six-year-old boy and a 43-year-old man, went missing after the accident. Six Navy and three Coast Guard personnel were deployed to search for them.

On December 19, the rescue team found the body of the man, identified as Hansaram Bhati, a Malad-based proprietor. The next afternoon, they found the body of the boy identified as Zohan Pathan.

Hansaram’s son Tarun, who had held the hands of Natharam Chaudhry and his cousin, was rescued. Since then, he has been in a state of shock. “Tarun has got a fever and is constantly asking about his father,” says Jongaram Bhati, 58, Hansaram’s brother.

Zohan had come to Mumbai on vacation with his family from Goa. While his maternal aunt, his father, and his 10-month-old brother survived the accident, Zohan and his mother Shafina Pathan, 35, died in the accident.

Sitting outside the Indira Gandhi Hospital in Uran, his maternal aunt, Sonali Gonde, recalls the tragic turn of events. “My sister and her elder son went down to the lower deck looking for a life jacket. She informed me that no life jackets were left, so I asked her to come up. But when I looked down she was gone. All I had were her chappals in my hand. We had shopped for those in Colaba market before taking the ferry ride.” Sonali says her sister died because there were not enough life jackets on the ferry.

While the owner of the ferry, Rajendra Padte, refuses to respond to questions, his brother, Shekhar, had only one thing to say; “The ferry was new. It was launched just a year ago.”

Trials and tribulations

Locals and ferry owners demand to know why the Navy was conducting trials in an area that is extensively used by ferries. “For the last 3-4 years, the ferries have been tolerating all kinds of shenanigans by the Navy boats. They perform stunts and sometimes come very close to the ferry,” claims a tourist guide, Trikal Patil.

Kavita, who sells caps at Elephanta Caves, echoes this allegation. She says, “In the last 5-6 years, we have seen altercations between people in the ferry and Navy personnel.”

A Defence spokesperson dismissed these allegations. “This is not a joyride [for the Navy]. It is for the safety of the harbour. The nature of trials is to check extremities. These may seem like stunts but they may be part of trials.”

The secretary of Jal Vahatuk Sahakari Sanstha, Iqbal Mukadam, points out that several oral and written complaints have been lodged with the Maharashtra Maritime Board and the Mumbai Port Authority about the movements of the Navy’s speed boats. “We raised concerns regarding the speed limits of the speed boats and about possible accidents,” he says. Minor collisions between ferry boats and Navy boats have been reported in the past, he adds.

In fact, on December 12, a few days before the accident, Jal Vahatuk Sahakari Sanstha had written a letter to the authorities about the “unauthorised speedboat berthing from jetty 1,2,3, and 4”, instead of using “dedicated jetty 5”. The letter also cited safety concerns and warned about the risk of accidents.

On December 19, given the mounting concerns about safety, especially after the accident, the Gateway of India is less crowded than usual. A man sitting at a ticket counter made out of tin sheets says, “Today, we have very few passengers.”

The police have sprung into action and are busy counting passengers, checking life jackets, and the licences of ferries. A police officer, Jayesh Chavan, who has been stationed at the base of Elephanta Island, says, “This is a routine inspection. But due to the accident, we are being more careful than usual.”

The survivors continue to deal with the trauma of the incident. Ishtiyak and Ariha, a newly married couple, had landed in Mumbai after their honeymoon in Kashmir. “They thankfully survived the accident,” says the couple’s uncle, Rafique Shriva. “But they are so distressed that they have decided to stay away from all water bodies, especially the sea.”

snehal.mutha@thehindu.co.in