RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: Dharmadi Satyam and his team achieved the target of retrieving Royal Vasishta boat from River Godavari on Tuesday after 38 days of the accident.
Dharmadi Satyam was entrusted with the work last month by a committee formed to look into the rescue operation of the boat mishap. Senior officials from Kakinada Port, Irrigation, JNTUK, Fisheries department and KSPL were there in the committee. They started the work on 28th of last month.
It is worth mentioning that Dharmadi Satyam and team took only three days and 32 hours to retrieve the boat. "Divers Rajababu, Dasu, Yellarao, Y Murali, V Kotreswararao, P Ramana, P Satish and M Sriram struggled a lot for three days in the rescue operation. I am proud of them. I will also pat the divers from Visakhapatnam, officials from the port department, revenue department and the police for their cooperation," said Satyam.
According to Nishant Kumar, PO, ITDA, Rampachodavaram, there were 77 on board Royal Vasishta on September 15 when it capsized in the Godavari. Of the total, 26 were rescued, bodies of 46 have been retrieved while five remain missing. "We hope that the remaining bodies will also be traced out in a day or two," Kumar added.
Rampachodavaram RDO A Srinivasa Rao said the rescue operation would continue further to trace out the remaining bodies. "We will again thoroughly check the boat and its surrounding areas. Its debris will also be checked," he said.