Jabalpur: A leisure trip to Madhya Pradesh's Bargi Dam turned tragic for a Delhi family after a cruise boat capsized amid sudden storms, leaving nine dead.
Sangeeta Kori, who survived the incident along with 15 others, said the outing quickly turned into chaos when strong winds hit the reservoir as the vessel was returning on Thursday evening.
Speaking to PTI, Kori said the boat was carrying around 40 people, including children, and claimed that safety protocols were not properly followed. Officials, however, stated that the vessel had 29 passengers and two crew members on board when it overturned in the Jabalpur reservoir.
Kori alleged that life jackets were not distributed before departure and were only brought out after water began entering the boat, leading to panic among passengers. She said, "No one was made to wear life jackets beforehand. When water started entering, they hurriedly distributed them, which caused chaos and people started snatching them. Then the cruise capsized. There was a lot of negligence. The pilot of the boat wasn't listening at all. People from the village were shouting and signaling him to bring the cruise to a safer side, but he kept going the same way, which caused it to overturn suddenly. My brother broke open the storeroom and quickly threw life jackets to people", she said.
She further claimed that warnings from locals on the shore to steer the vessel to safety were ignored by the operator, whom she described as inexperienced. She also suggested that overcrowding and negligence contributed to the disaster.
According to her account, the sudden scramble for life jackets and rising panic worsened the situation as the boat began to capsize. While she and some others managed to survive, members of her family were separated in the chaos.
Rescue operations were launched following the incident, with authorities continuing search efforts for the missing passengers.