A boat carrying 80 passengers and five crew capsized off the coast of India’s financial capital Mumbai after a speedboat hit it on Wednesday, authorities said.
In a statement, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the city’s civic body, said 75 people and all five crew members were rescued. One person died.
Rescue operations for the remaining five people were underway, he added. Local TV showed crews in life jackets near the sunken ship.
A speedboat collided with the vessel, causing it to capsize, said Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital.
Local TV channels showed a speedboat carrying at least five people hitting the passenger boat, causing the accident.
“The boat hit our boat and the water started to enter and it capsized. The driver asked us to wear life jackets,” a passenger on board the vessel told ABP Majha news channel.
“I swam for fifteen minutes before being rescued by another boat,” said the passenger, who did not identify himself.
The privately owned passenger boat, called Neelkamal, was heading towards the Elephanta Caves, a popular tourist destination off the coast of Mumbai, when it capsized, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.
The caves, which receive a constant flow of tourists throughout the year, are a UNESCO heritage site and were built between the 5th and 6th centuries AD. Boats from the Gateway of India, the southernmost point of Mumbai, make regular trips to transport tourists to the place, an hour away.
This content was originally published in Boat capsizes off the coast of Mumbai with more than 80 people on board on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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