KOCHI: Tourists and commuters had a miraculous escape after a Ro-Ro vessel collided with a tourist boat at Fort Kochi on Friday afternoon. A case had been registered against the navigator of the Ro-Ro vessel in the incident, which brought back memories of the terrible boat collision of 2015 that claimed 11 lives.
An official with the Fort Kochi police station said all the passengers and tourists on board the vessels were safe. “The navigator has been booked under IPC section 280 for rash navigation of the vessel,” he said. The ferry is operated by the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation.
The incident occurred around 1.45pm. The ferry, which was taking passengers and vehicles to Vypeen, collided with the tourist boat Bay King, which had 29 tourists, including some from Maharashtra, on board.Police officials said the tourist boat was close to the shore as the tourists wanted to click photographs of the Chinese fishing nets.
“The navigator of the ferry did not see the tourist boat as he was busy undocking the vessel from the jetty. Though it was a minor collision, it took the crew a few minutes to control the ferry as it operates on heavy engines. The tourist boat sustained minor damage,” he said.
Ashraf, a street vendor at Fort Kochi, said they were sitting next to the Ro-Ro ferry jetty after lunch when they heard a loud noise and found that the ferry had hit a tourist boat. “The ferry had just left the jetty. The collision occurred around 5-10m away from the shore,” said Ashraf.
Coastal police officials who reached the spot said some of the tourists were standing on the upper deck of the boat when the collision took place.“Later, the vehicles in which the tourists had arrived at Kochi were called to Fort Kochi and the tourists were sent to their hotel,” said a coastal police official.On August 26, 2015, a ferry boat plying from Fort Kochi to Vypeen was hit by a fishing boat, resulting in 11 deaths.