Deaths in Jabalpur boat tragedy rise to 13, body of last missing person recovered

Authorities recovered the last two missing passengers from Bargi Dam on Sunday, taking the Jabalpur boat tragedy toll to 13. The recovery concluded the search.

In Short

• Bodies of five-year-old boyand uncle Kamraj recovered
• Boat capsized during storm, was 20 years old and state-operated
• 28 rescued out of 41 passengers, search aided by Army and NDRF

The death toll in the cruise boat tragedy at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district rose to 13 on Sunday after authorities recovered the bodies of the last two missing persons, police said.

Officials found the bodies of a five-year-old boy and his uncle Kamraj, around 50, floating in the dam on Sunday morning and retrieved them. Kamraj worked at the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria. Bargi Sub Divisional Officer of Police Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI that teams sent the bodies to a government hospital for postmortem.

With this, authorities have accounted for all 13 missing persons identified after the incident, Mishra said.

The boat, around 20 years old and operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening.

Rescue teams comprising around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, along with personnel from the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, and local divers, carried out the search operation.

According to police, 28 people were rescued out of the 41 identified passengers on board the vessel. CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat, though officials have confirmed the identities of 41 passengers so far.

The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident, dismissed three crew members, and banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.

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