New Delhi: Panic-stricken parents onboard the ill-fated tourist ferry Neel Kamal were thinking of tossing their children into the sea water as a desperate measure after it began to sink off Mumbai on Wednesday, but a team of CISF marine commandos stopped them with an assurance that everyone will be saved. Fourteen people died in the mishap.
CISF constable Amol Savant (36) and his two colleagues became the “first responders” after the Dec 18 accident. Their patrol boat reached the accident site off the Mumbai coast around 4pm, and they decided to utilise the “golden hour” for first saving the most vulnerable, including the children.
“We were on routine patrol at some distance off the shore when our walkie talkie crackled to inform us that a passenger ferry was sinking. I asked the pilot (speedboat driver) to go full throttle and we reached the accident site about 3-4km away in no time,” Savant said.
“We saw people were ready to throw their children in the ocean water thinking that they would be saved from the sinking ship. I asked them not to panic and not attempt this. We took charge of the situation soon,” said the jawan, who is posted with the CISF unit that guards the JNPT, Navi Mumbai.
Savant said when he saw children hanging dangerously from whatever was left of the sinking ferry, “I and my colleagues just caught hold of them and brought them in our boat.” They rescued about 6-7 children in the first go.
Sub-inspector (SI) Kheioka Sema (38), posted with the CISF unit that provides counterterrorist security cover to the JNPA, was in the second patrol boat that reached the spot. “I saw a lady who was in the water wearing a life jacket but she had raised her hands in anticipation that she would be rescued. We rushed and asked her to put her hands down else the jacket would slip and she would drown,” Sema said.PTI
New Delhi: Panic-stricken parents onboard the ill-fated tourist ferry Neel Kamal were thinking of tossing their children into the sea water as a desperate measure after it began to sink off Mumbai on Wednesday, but a team of CISF marine commandos stopped them with an assurance that everyone will be saved. Fourteen people died in the mishap.
CISF constable Amol Savant (36) and his two colleagues became the “first responders” after the Dec 18 accident. Their patrol boat reached the accident site off the Mumbai coast around 4pm, and they decided to utilise the “golden hour” for first saving the most vulnerable, including the children.
“We were on routine patrol at some distance off the shore when our walkie talkie crackled to inform us that a passenger ferry was sinking. I asked the pilot (speedboat driver) to go full throttle and we reached the accident site about 3-4km away in no time,” Savant said.
“We saw people were ready to throw their children in the ocean water thinking that they would be saved from the sinking ship. I asked them not to panic and not attempt this. We took charge of the situation soon,” said the jawan, who is posted with the CISF unit that guards the JNPT, Navi Mumbai.
Savant said when he saw children hanging dangerously from whatever was left of the sinking ferry, “I and my colleagues just caught hold of them and brought them in our boat.” They rescued about 6-7 children in the first go.
Sub-inspector (SI) Kheioka Sema (38), posted with the CISF unit that provides counterterrorist security cover to the JNPA, was in the second patrol boat that reached the spot. “I saw a lady who was in the water wearing a life jacket but she had raised her hands in anticipation that she would be rescued. We rushed and asked her to put her hands down else the jacket would slip and she would drown,” Sema said.PTI
