BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Monday ordered a probe into the Saturday evening’s boat mishap in Chilika lake in which six tourists died.
Announcing this, Minister of State for Commerce and Transport Nrusingha Charan Sahu said the Director of the Port and Inland Water Transport has been asked to visit the mishap site for an investigation into the incident and submit a detailed report to the Government. “On the basis of his report, the Government will take appropriate action,” he said and added that the Director will also investigate whether the ill fated boat had life jackets for the tourists.
The Minister said necessary steps will be taken to ensure that such incidents do not take place in future. The incident took place on Saturday afternoon when a country boat carrying 15 passengers with two boatmen capsized in the lake due to strong wind and thundershower while they were returning from Kalijai Temple at around 5.30 pm.
Six tourists died in the mishap while nine others were rescued by a joint team of the Balugaon Boat Owners’ Association, Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), fire brigade, local fishermen and scuba divers. While the bodies of two persons were recovered on Saturday, that of four others were fished out of the lake during the 17-hour search operation.