Vietnam speedboat tragedy: Survivor recounts horror as 15 Indian tourists killed

In a chilling firsthand account of the recent speedboat tragedy in Vietnam Nirmal Kumar one of the survivors who arrived here on the night of July 13 recounted the horrific moments when a routine islandtoisland transit turned into a deadly disaster within minutesA speedboat carrying 32 Indian tourists and four local crew members capsized near Hon May Rut Ngoai off Phu Quoc Island on 11 July killing 15 Indian touristsSixteen others were rescued and have returned to India after receiving medical treatment while one survivor remains in critical condition at a hospital in Phu QuocOf the 15 victims 10 were from Tamil Nadu three were from Andhra Pradesh and two were from Kerala Two of the deceased were womenKumar who stayed back to assist in the recovery operations revealed that a sudden violent wave capsized their closed speedboat just 300 meters into their journey trapping 15 passengers underwaterSpeaking to PTI Videos Kumar who hails from Palani in Dindigul district said the group had boarded a large closed speedboat on July 11 to travel from one island to another during the final leg of their trip which began on July 8Within three minutes of boarding and barely crossing 300 meters the boat went upside down Kumar saidA massive extremely rough wave hit the boat causing it to tilt slightly Suddenly the passengers on the left side fell toward the right shifting the entire weight and flipping the boat completely upside down he saidKumar explained that the driver and the guide were the first to jump into the water Seeing them he and about 20 other passengers immediately jumped out and managed to escape However those seated in the back were not as fortunateBecause it was a closed boat about 15 members got trapped inside Even though they were wearing life jackets the capsized boat pinned them down and they couldnt make it out he addedThe rescue teams arrived at the spot within 10 minutes pulling out the survivors who were floating outside However it took 20 to 30 minutes to recover those trapped underneath the vesselKumar suffered a personal loss in the accident revealing that his childhood friend Muruga Prabhu was among the deceased I only left Vietnam after ensuring his body was recovered and the necessary procedures were completed a distraught Kumar saidHe said a doctor who was part of the tour group noted that a lack of immediate medical supplies onsite hampered initial lifesaving effortsOur copassenger doctor mentioned that if certain medicines had been readily available at the spot four to five more lives could have been saved We are explaining this to the Vietnam government Kumar statedOut of the total 36 people on board 32 passengers and 4 crew members a significant number hailed from Tamil Nadu Kumar confirmed that 10 victims belonged to the stateFour from Chennai three from Tiruchirapalli and one each from Salem Erode and Tiruppur he addedThe mortal remains of the victims reached Mumbai at 930 pm on July 13 and are scheduled to be flown into Chennai and Coimbatore on Tuesday morningThe government has coordinated all necessary arrangements to receive the bodies and hand them over to their respective familiesExpressing gratitude toward the Indian Embassy and the Vietnam government for their roundtheclock coordination Kumar urged both the Central and state governments to extend financial assistance to the grieving familiesIt was an unexpected tragedy on foreign soil The families are devastated and it would be immensely helpful if the government could announce a relief package to support them Kumar appealed before leaving the airportThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever