Three drown after boat capsizes at Powai Lake

Mumbai: Three people of a group of eight drowned after the houseboat, on which they were having a party, capsized on Friday night after colliding with a bamboo stem. The houseboat belonged to a member of the Maharashtra State Angling Association.

The accident occurred around 11.15 pm about a 100 metres away from the shore and rescue officials, who were intimated about the mishap fifteen minutes later, managed to save five people. The passengers who were successfully rescued have been identified as Kunal Patil, Paresh Panchal, Deepak Patil, Naresh Thakur and Abbu Mandal.  So far, three bodies — identified as those of Ghatkopar residents Rasool Khan (43), his nephew Atif (22) and Kalyan resident Dinesh Bhoir (28)  — have been recovered.  

Khan had organised the party. As per the rules, a boat cannot enter the lake after 7 pm, but the group had allegedly paid a bribe at the lake and broke the rules. Speaking about the incident, a police officer from Powai police station said, “The control room got a call at 11.30 pm while the boat capsized at 11.15 pm. Five of the passengers were rescued by the locals while three of them drowned.” The officer further added, “The people who boarded the boat were from Mumbai and as per the survivors,

the boat belonged to a member of the Maharashtra State Angling Association, a club, near the lake. When The Asian Age contacted the club, they said that the boats were taken without its permission.” As the boat was relatively close to the shore, locals managed to rush to the spot to help the victims. The local police officers and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team and Navy divers had accompanied the fire officials in the rescueoperation.