MP boat disaster: search for 4 missing expands; 5 TN tourists among dead

Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday widened their search at the Bargi dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after a cruise boat tragedy that left nine people dead two days earlier, officials said.

The accident occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur on the evening of Thursday, 30 April. Of the 41 passengers identified as having boarded the ill-fated vessel, 28 have been rescued safely, police said, adding that an FIR will be registered in connection with the incident.

The search radius has now been extended to 5 km in the backwaters of the dam, located downstream of the Narmada river, area sub-divisional officer of police Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.

Nine people have been confirmed dead, while efforts continue to trace the missing, including Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his young son Tamil, Vijay Soni and Mayuram.

According to police, more than 200 rescuers — including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra — began search operations at 5 am on Saturday.

Mishra said an inquest case has been registered and post-mortems of the nine deceased have been completed. "Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.

Investigators reviewing CCTV footage from near the boarding point found 43 people moving towards the vessel, though the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far. Collector Raghvendra Singh also confirmed that the search for four missing persons is ongoing.

The rescue effort, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly disrupted at around 9.00 am due to strong winds.

The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and serious safety lapses, including the failure to provide life jackets. It has also suspended the operation of similar vessels across the state.

The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a sudden storm at around 6.00 pm on Thursday. The wreckage was retrieved from the dam on Friday after rescuers confirmed no additional bodies were trapped inside.

Eyewitnesses said strong winds had turned the waters choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and urge the crew to steer towards the riverbank. A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.

Among the nine deceased were five tourists from Tamil Nadu, police said. Three victims were from Tiruchirappalli, while two were from Tiruppur. They were identified as R. Kamaraj (38), a native of Tiruchirappalli working at an ordnance factory in Jabalpur, his wife Karukuzhali (38) and their son Tamil Vendhan (4). Also among the deceased were P. Soubhagya (42), a relative of Karukuzhali, and her son P. Mayuran (8) from Tiruppur, sources said.

Authorities in Tamil Nadu are coordinating with their counterparts in Madhya Pradesh to transport the bodies of the victims by air ambulance on Saturday.

With PTI inputs