Kendrapara: Expressing profound grief at the death of nine persons in Hukitola boat tragedy in Odisha’s Kendrapara district on Wednesday night, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased. He also ordered free medical treatment for the injured.
The Chief Minister also conveyed his deep sympathy to the bereaved families.
Till reports last came in, the Fire Brigade, ODRAF and Coast Guard personnel had rescued the nine bodies of passengers who had gone missing after a boat in which they were on the way from Hukitola, capsized in Mahanadi river mouth at Balighat near Nipania.
While the local fishermen had initially rescued about 30 passengers and the body of a passenger, the Fire Brigade and the ODRAF teams recovered eight more bodies and rescued another 15 passengers at about 3 am. The teams began their search operation on Thursday morning to trace a six-year-old girl. Of the nine deceased, two are women and the remaining seven are children.
Sources said that the ill-fated country boat was carrying 55 passengers more than its capacity when the incident took place. All the passengers had gone to the lighthouse area at Hukitola on Wednesday morning for a picnic. The incident took place on their return between 6.30 pm-7 pm. Following the incident, Kendrapara Collector, Dasarathi Satpathy and sub-collector had rushed to the spot in the night and monitored the rescue work till late in the night.
The District Collector said the bodies of the nine deceased will be brought to Chaumuhani near Paradip in a boat by the Forest staff and handed over to the family members after postmortem.
