Hansaraam Bhati, 43, was among the 115 people on board the ferry boat that capsized off the Mumbai coast on Wednesday. Bhati had been missing until Thursday evening, when his body was found in a search and rescue operation under the ill-fated ferry boat Neel Kamal.
Waiting restlessly outside Colaba police station near the Gateway of India, Bhati’s elder brother, Jogaram, 60, said that his brother was a good swimmer. “His son Tarun, 14, who was with him on the boat, told us that his father was wearing a lifejacket…it’s very hard to accept that he drowned,” Jogaram said.
Bhati, a resident of Tanaji Nagar in Malad (East), ran a small imitation jewellery workshop. He, wife Santosh and son Tarun were on the ferry as they were accompanying their relatives from Pali district, Pravin Rathod, 32, and his wife Neeta, 28, on a tour from the Gateway of India to Elephanta Island.
The ferry capsized off Karanja, Mumbai, on Wednesday evening after it was hit by a Navy speedboat undergoing trials for a newly fitted engine. At least 14 people were killed and 100 others were rescued, including Santosh, Tarun, and the Rathods.
Ranjeet Parmar, a close family friend of Bhati, said it was difficult to believe that he had not survived. “He swam across the river in the village and was an ace swimmer. Four people who were with him had no life jacket, they survived, and a swimmer like him with a life jacket couldn’t survive? It’s very hard to digest,” said Parmar.
Parmar believes that Ranjeet’s lifejacket may have gotten hooked on some part of the boat as his body was found
underneath the ferry boat.
While Jogaram said that Santosh was very upset after the incident, Parmar said Tarun too was in deep shock. “He was the sole bread earner in his family, the government should consider this and compensate his family”, Parmar added.
Jogaram also blamed the Navy for the accident. While the exact cause of the incident is not known, it is suspected that an engine malfunction was to blame, police sources said.
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