”Everyone was happy. Everyone in the boat was moving ahead doing kirtan. Suddenly the boat started moving towards the bridge, so we told the sailor several times to stop. Said four times but he did not agree and in the blink of an eye the boat collided. There was an outcry.” Saying this, Tanish burst into tears. Tanish was aboard the same boat and he narrated the entire story of this incident.
2 of 9
Devotees drowning in Yamuna – Photo: Amar Ujala
The entire accident happened in front of my eyes
Tanish, a resident of Ludhiana, was extremely distressed by the incident. The entire accident had happened in front of his eyes and he too had almost lost his life. With tearful eyes he narrated the entire incident. Said…”Everyone had left in the boat. They were happy and were singing Sankirtan. The wind was blowing strong so it seemed as if they realized that something could go wrong. When the boat moved fast towards the bridge, he warned the sailor. The boat waved once in the middle. On this the devotees in the boat said that there are more people. Reduce it. Even before this, four people had been shifted to another boat but the sailors were not considered. Said, there is nothing new. Let’s go and kept moving the boat forward and as soon as he reached near the bridge, the boat hit the anchor of the boat and it crashed in the blink of an eye.
3 of 9
Mathura accident – Photo: Samvad News Agency
The sailor neither jumped nor called anyone
While telling the story, tears welled up in Tanish’s eyes. He said, as soon as the boat overturned, the people in it fell. Some were still left in the boat who shouted to call divers but no one came immediately. The sailor neither jumped himself nor called anyone. We tried to pull our people ourselves. Even the hands got scratched but during this time the whole boat started sinking. Somehow they jumped and swam out. Some divers came and saved them but neither an ambulance nor any other facility came here. Shwet Jain, who was among the devotees, told from Mathura that a bridge of pontoons was built across the Yamuna. They were opened after the water level increased. After this this bridge started flowing into Yamuna. His motorboat overturned after colliding with them.
4 of 9
Video before Mathura accident – Photo: Amar Ujala
The boat capsized for the third time
He told that when the motor boat sank, the nearby boat people saved many people and made them sit in their boats. Shwet told that when our motorboat reached near the Pipa bridge, people told the sailor that the bridge was about to come, stop it but he did not stop the motorboat. The motorboat avoided hitting the Pipa bridge twice. She overturned after the third collision. Advocate Sandeep Gupta’s wife Seema Gupta said that as soon as the devotees present in the ashram got the information about the accident, everyone started crying.
5 of 9
Mathura accident – Photo: Samvad News Agency
Rent was charged Rs 4500
Among the devotees who were safely pulled out of the river, the names of Jagraon resident Sunil Kumar’s wife, Yashu, son of Ramesh Bajaj and Lavesh have emerged. Apart from this, a devotee from Moga and Dugri of Ludhiana is also in the hospital. The fare for this 4-day journey to Vrindavan was Rs 4500. Along with Jagraon, some people from Ludhiana, Moga and Muktsar were also traveling in the bus. The relatives of the victim families left for Mathura.