Boat With Devotees Stranded In Odisha’s Chilika Lake

Berhampur: A boat with around 25 passengers on board was stranded in Chilika lake due to dense fog on Saturday.

According to sources, the boat was ferrying devotees to Kalijai Island, considered to be the abode of Goddess Kalijai the presiding deity of fishermen, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. The boatman was unable to spot the temple amid a thick blanket of fog, while restricted visibility to 50 metres this morning.

Following the incident, the local administration temporarily suspended boat services from Balugaon. “The stranded boat has reached Kalijai island. Since visibility is still low, we have decided to suspend boat service for now,” Balugaon SDPO Manas Ranjan Barik told the media.

Notably, the India Meteorological Department had issued a yellow warning for dense fog at one or two places in Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Khurda, Nayagarh and Kandhamal. Dense fog is also likely at one or two places in Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Ganjam, Khurda, Cuttack, Angul and Dhenkanal during the subsequent 24 hours.