Boat tragedy: Search op goes on, no trace of missing trio
The search to find three persons who went missing after a boat was capsized in Jhelum river in Srinagar continued on Wednesday.
Six people, including two children and their mother, were killed and three went missing as a boat carrying the students to school on Tuesday morning capsized on the Jhelum in Srinagar. All the children on the board studied in the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Sonwar across the river.
Officials said rescue teams of SDRF, NDRF and Indian Navy’s MARCOS searched the turbid water of the river Jhelum 4-5 km downstream from Gandbal to Raj Bagh while divers went under water to look for any signs of the missing persons.
Kashmir inspector general of police Vidhi Kumar Birdi said “We are searching the river but so far we couldn’t find anything. The search operation is still going on.”
The teams are looking for Farhan Waseem Parray, 7, Showkat Ahmad Sheikh, 40 and his son Haziq Showkat, 9.
Their families along with hundreds of people lined the banks of river Jhelum waiting for any trace of their loved ones. “He has two daughters. He is a mason. We have nobody except him,” said Showkat Ahmad’s distraught mother, Fatima.
“My husband is also dead. My son had constructed this small house after taking a loan. How will I repay the loan? Who will take care of his daughters,” the septuagenarian said.
Birdi said, “These specialised divers have their own understanding of the water and its currents. They are searching areas where there is a high probability of finding anything. They are not only diving but looking at places
where the momentum of water breaks and there is more probability of finding a body.”
The officials are also expecting that the bodies might come up.
Locals and survivors of Gandbal pointed out that the two banks were just 500 m apart, but that they were forced to make the treacherous trip across in the boats because the nearest bridge is 2 km away. They also added that a footbridge, along the accident spot, has been under construction for nearly a decade.
The people and political leaders have come down heavily on the administration for taking so long to complete the work on the footbridge.
Mirwaiz seeks answers from govt
Hurriyat leader and chief priest of Kashmir’s grand mosque Jamia Masjid Mirwaiz Umar Farooq sought answers from the lieutenant governor led administration over non-completion of the footbridge at Gandbal and other places along the river.
“While we urge for patience, at the same time we have to think whether this incident could have been averted. Why did it happen? There is an issue of connectivity as there is no bridge. Every day they have to use this boat and then there are no security measures in such transportation. There are no life jackets or life guards,” Mirwaiz told media.
Some 3-km away from the Gandbal hamlet, scores of people of Karnabal-Somerbugh hamlet on the bank of river Jhelum protested on road at Pantha Chowk demanding the completion of the footbridge.
They said that a footbridge connecting Karnabal, Somerbugh to Pantha Chowk across the river was under construction for the past 12 years.