Woman Found Clutching Child in Sunken Boat

Jabalpur: In a harrowing discovery that spurred seasoned rescuers into action, a dive team of paramilitary forces found the body of a woman still clutching her child in her last, tight embrace aboard the ill-fated passenger boat that capsized in Madhya Pradesh’s Bargi Dam.

The Agra-based diving team described harsh conditions inside the sunken ship, where limited space and sharp-tipped iron rods forced rescuers to use hammers to create narrow openings, with one diver nearly trapped.

Nine people died and 22 people were rescued when a passenger boat overturned and sank at the Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district following a sudden storm on Thursday evening, officials said.

One of the divers told PTI Video: “Initially, we had difficulty in recovering the body of a woman from the wreckage. We later discovered that she was holding her child tightly and it was difficult to separate them. Our team was impressed by the scene.”

He said conditions were extremely challenging, with limited space, broken structures and low visibility hampering the rescue operation.

Another member of the rescue team in Agra said visibility inside was extremely poor and the team constantly encountered broken structures and iron rods snagging their equipment.

In some places, the team had to squeeze through narrow openings to conduct the search, he said, adding that at one point, a diver got trapped and had to be rescued.

According to the rescue teams, the operation had become dangerous as the structure of the boat completely collapsed on both sides and the internal grates made the roads dangerously narrow.

Despite these obstacles, the paramilitary team has so far recovered five bodies, including one child and four adults, from the dark depths of the reservoir.