J&K stands shoulder to shoulder with families: LG meets kin of boat tragedy victims

SRINAGAR, APRIL 22: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today met the family members of the victims who lost their lives in the heartbreaking boat tragedy on April 16.

The Lt Governor expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and assured all help and support to them.

“The UT Administration stands shoulder to shoulder with the families in this hour of grief,” he said.

LG was accompanied by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Bilal Mohi-ud-Din Bhat, SSP Srinagar Ashish Kumar Mishra, and others.

Lt. Governor conveyed his commiserations to the victims’ families and assured them of all assistance and support from the J&K UT Administration.

“Met the family members of the victims who lost their lives in the heartbreaking boat tragedy on April 16 and expressed my condolences. Assured all help and support,” said the Office of LG J&K in a post on X.  

The boat, which was carrying around 15 persons, capsized in the Jhelum river last Tuesday. In the incident, six bodies, including twin brothers and their mother, were recovered from the water and ten others survived the heartwrenching mishap.

However, the bodies of the other three individuals including a father-son and another boy have not yet been retrieved from the Jhelum.

Several teams have been engaged in the search operation since the occurrence of the incident, but unfortunately, none of the remaining missing bodies has been found so far.

Earlier, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar Dr Bilal Mohi-ud-din said they are probing how the boat capsized though their primary focus is on search and rescue operation.

“The unfortunate incident occurred between 7.45 am and 8 am. Our reports say that 15 people were on board the boat when it capsized. They include eight adults and seven minors. Six people have died and six others have been rescued. Three of them are undergoing treatment and three others are stable at home. Our reports say three including two children are missing,” he had said

Indian army and  Indian Navy’s Marcos too have joined the search and rescue operation. “Four SDRF, two NDRF, two river police, fire and emergency, Marcos and others are carrying out the operation. We have divided the area to locate the missing people,” Ashish Mishra, SSP Srinagar had said.