Boat snaps mid-journey on Madh island, two residents nearly-drown

It has been close to a week since two Madh Island residents almost drowned while going to Versova on a boat but authorities have chosen to stay mum regarding the incident instead of helping the residents retrieve the precious belongings they lost in the water and treating it as a lesson in checking the quality of the boats that run to and from the islandThe incident occurred on June 15 around 4 pm when Narendra Kumar 44 and Sameer Tendolkar 45 residents of the upscale Raheja Exotica on Madh Island took a ferry to Versova The boat they took was a 15seater which charges R10 for the short ride It was one of the two smaller and supposedly better boats that run on the same route Thebigger boats charge R5 per rideAlso readMumbai Crime 2 robbers break into 8 houses to take their girlfriends on a date to Madh IslandThe boat tilted after the cylinder brokeThese boats are also used by Bollywood stars when are shooting at Madh Island They routinely take the entire ferry because of their entourage We were not stars just ordinary mortals said Kumar who is a scriptwriter adding Tendolkar was with me on the boat and there were two crew members mdash a navigator and his helper Crossing from Madh to Versova takes barely five minutes But just two minutes into the crossing we heard two distinct snapping sounds The pipelike structures below this pontoon had broken away Slowly the boat started to tilt It was terrifying Before I knew it the water was till my chin Kumar caught hold of a life jacket while Tendolkar managed to grab a lifesaving flotation tube Both were in the water Neither knew how to swimUntrained crewKumar said The crew was not trained in emergency response They did not even shout at us to grab some device as the boat was sinking The navigator was swimming expertly in the water and the helper when I last saw him was clinging to the wreckage I had got hold of Tendolkar and we were floatingSoon a bigger ferry came along There was a lot of shouting and hollering and people throwing ropes and tubes at us but we were floating Somehow we were saved because of our bandargiri said KumarNarendra KumarTendolkar who designs applications for mobile phones said I had no time to think within five seconds I was in the water The boat broke in the water I was floating holding a tube and was finally rescued It was much later when I was processing this very lucky escape that I thought what if there were old persons or children on board How would they have escaped What if parts of the boat had fallen on somebody Locals said Although the ride is only about four minutes the water is very deep and there are strong currents at timesNarrow escapeKumar said After we clambered onto a boat that came for our rescue drenched in the foulsmelling water we went to give a statement to the office of the Maharashtra Maritime Board office in Versova Bandar midday has a copy It was hours later that we both went home Throughout the local community tried to play down the incident simply asking us whether we were all okay Is everything okay now Tendolkar said This was just such a fortunate escapeThe survivors being rescued a tube being thrown to themAn angry Kumar said It has been nearly a week I was in mental trauma for three days after this neardrowning There has been no official response or statement from anybody post this Local buzz says that investigations are on What are these investigations and why are the survivors not being called to state what happened I lost my laptop mobile phone and most importantly a diary containing script and dialogues Id written for a project in the water Who is going to replace those Has there been any official acknowledgementAlso readCoast Guard seizes Pakistani fishing boat carrying 194 packets of narcoticsA wary Tendolkar said he had nothing more to say but Kumar asked angrily What if he had not survived this mishap Even after the incident shockingly there was an attempt to cover this up An initial small media report simply said that two men fell overboard this is untrue The boat broke A Madh resident said on the condition of anonymity Social media is a doubleedged sword While it can be used to spread false news nothing can be hidden any longer There was so much mobile phone footage of the boat breaking pictures also surfaced of the wreckage in the water so the truth is bound to be outRaheja saysThis boat service is a lifeline for Raheja Exotica residents to the main land In fact many residents claim these smaller boats were from Raheja a charge the company flatly denied Residents also added that the boat service is part of a Raheja corporate social responsibility CSR initiative A statement by Raheja Universal said The ferry services across Madh to Versova are managed and provided by localsWhen shown a copy of a June 2 2015 circular on a Raheja Universal letterhead addressed to residentsowners of Raheja Exotica facilities which states in the first line We will be starting our ferry service from June 3 2015 and goes on to cite ticket prices Raheja Universal remained steadfast in denial They responded saying This was an intimation of the services started by a local sansthaAlso readWatch video Whale returning phone of woman fallen in sea goes viralNow one of these boats is broken while the other is not operational forcing residents to stand in queues for as long as 40 minutes during peak hours for the regular ferry When midday witnessed the ordinary ferry the way to the jetty on the Versova side was filthy and getting into these boats was precarious These ferries also carried motorbikes along with people A Madh resident said We are in a slumber zone The current incident should serve as a wakeup call Yet it will only be a matter of time before we go to sleep once again and the familiar shrugging of the shoulders and passing the buck beginsAkshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor Khan PicSatej ShindeStarry ferryThe boat service is used by stars who have to access Madh Island for shoots Most of them book the entire boat like Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor Khan who were spotted taking the ferry in April while shooting their movie Good News on Madh IslandCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates