When 45-year-old Ganesh saw the speed boat-like craft rushing towards the ferry on whose deck he was standing, a thought crossed his mind that the inevitable will happen -- and it did.
Thirteen persons died and 99 others were rescued after a Navy speedboat crashed into the ferry off Mumbai coast late Wednesday afternoon.
"The boat, which later turned out to be a naval craft, was moving in circles in the Arabian Sea, while our ferry was on the way to Elephanta Island, a popular tourist attraction near Mumbai. I had boarded the ferry around 3.30 pm," Ganesh said.
"There was a brief thought in my mind that the naval craft could hit our boat, and it happened within the next few seconds," said Ganesh, who was standing on the deck of the ill-fated Neel Kamal ferry.
The eyewitness, who hailing from Hyderabad, was among the first of the 99 persons rescued after the collision. There were more than 100 passengers, including children, on board the ferry, he said. "I boarded the ferry after purchasing the ticket around 3.30 pm and went on the deck," he said.
"While I was observing the Arabian Sea and Mumbai skyline while the ferry was around 8 to 10 km from the coast, I saw the speed boat-like vessel making circles with full speed near our ferry," he said.
A Navy jawan in the craft died after his leg was cut in the accident, he said.
"As soon as the boat hit our ferry, seawater started coming into our vessel, after which the captain of the boat told the passengers to wear a life jacket as it started capsizing," he said.
"I took a life jacket, went up and jumped into the sea," he said, adding that he had been swimming for 15 minutes when he was rescued by another boat, which was in the vicinity, and brought to the Gateway of India along with others.
The rescue teams of Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Police had approached the ferry within half an hour of the collision, he said.
"I was in the first lot of 10 passengers to be rescued," he said.
Another survivor, Vinayak Mattham from Bengaluru, told PTI that he was on board the ill-fated ferry along with two of his colleagues. "At first I thought that the Navy craft personnel were out for a joy ride, going by the way their boat was circling our ferry," he said.
"The ferry did not have enough life jackets," he said. "When passengers boarded the ferry, they should have been made to wear life jackets," he added.
