13 dead, 101 rescued as Naval vessel collides with ferry carrying 85 people; rescue operations underway

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday that the death toll from the passenger ferry-Navy boat collision off the coast of Mumbai had reached 13. Of those deceased, 3 belonged to the Indian Navy.

Fadnavis added that the accident occurred during an engine testing of a navy boat. The vessel lost control and collided with the passenger boat.

“The information given to us, is that the military boat had put a new engine on the boat and were testing with it, there preliminary view is that there was some problem in the throttle and that led to the accident,” said Fadnavis.

Further, the Maharashtra CM said that members of the Navy, coast guard and police, 11 craft, helicopters are involved in rescue operation.

“Navy, coast guard and police, 11 craft, helicopters are involved in rescue operation, we will get complete information of the missing by tomorrow morning,” Fadnavis added.

Search operations are still on, with rescue efforts in full swing, at the time of this report’s publication.

“We are doing a complete investigation on behalf of govt and Navy. Incident happened near butcher island,” said Fadnavis.

101 people were rescued at the time of this report’s publication.