Mumbai ferry-Navy crash: missing body recovered; toll reaches 15
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Mumbai: The body of a seven-year-old boy missing in the ferry-Navy craft crash off the Mumbai coast was recovered on Saturday morning. The body was recovered after a three-day-long search operation involving a naval helicopter and boats of the Navy and Coast Guard.
After the body of the missing boy, boy Johan Mohammad Nisar Ahmed Pathan was found, the death count of the December 18 accident reached 15.
The Navy has launched a probe into one of the deadliest crashes in the city's harbour area.
Of the 113 persons on board both the vessels, 15 have died, and 98, including two injured, were rescued.
There were six persons on board the Navy craft, of which two survived, the official said.
The tragedy struck when the speeding Navy craft undergoing engine trials lost control and collided with a passenger ferry, 'Neel Kamal', off the Mumbai coast.
The ferry, with more than 100 passengers, was on its way from the Gateway of India to Elephanta Island, a popular tourist attraction with a collection of ancient caves.
According to the documents issued by the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), the boat had permission to carry 84 passengers and six crew members, but it was overloaded, a police official said.
The MMB, which is conducting an investigation into the accident, has cancelled the ferry's licence as the vessel was overloaded, thus violating the Inland Vessel Act. An official said that the ferry had a capacity of 90 people.
A case has been registered against the Navy craft driver at the Colaba police station, the official said.