PANAJI
Director of the River Navigation Department (RND) has launched an inquiry into the incident at Marcaim where a full-to-capacity ferry boat got stranded out of control in the middle of Zuari river for over two hours and confabulated with the entire crew on Wednesday.
RND sources said preliminary findings of the probe from the first hand accounts of the ferry’s crew indicate that there was no technical snag but a deliberate tactic by the ferry’s master to idle the propellers in the face of adverse conditions -- strong currents, sudden high speed winds and heavy rain.
“It could have been a tragic disaster if the ferry’s engine and propellers had to be continued full throttle against the tide and conditions,” the RND source said.
The video of the stranded ferry, packed with dozens of two-wheelers and office-goers getting back home on the Madkai-Borim route, had gone viral on social media on Tuesday.
The ferry boat, according to the crew, was caught in stormy winds accompanied by rain besides and worse, river currents which were strong and wayward around 6 pm.
“One of the crew members is said to have testified in the internal inquiry that there was no technical malfunction. The ferry got trapped in strong winds, heavy rains and strong currents and so we had to stay in the middle to prevent any disaster,” the crew member said.
Another crew member’s account said the incident occurred around 6 to 6.30 pm and the ferry was at its full capacity with passengers and vehicles onboard.
“It was difficult to navigate. The propellers began to spin. If he had tried to continue forward in the storm, a potentially worse disaster could have occurred,” a top RND official said, adding that the ferry was diverted to Cortalim once the winds slowed.
“This was a natural disaster, not a technical snag,” the official added.
