Over a dozen feared drowned as boat capsizes off Keamari

Over a dozen people, including women and children, are believed to have drowned as a passenger boat capsized off Keamari on Friday morning.

According to rescue sources, the ill-fated boat, Al-Rashid, drowned in the deep waters of Keamari harbour as soon as it left Keamari jetty for Baba and Bhit islands at around 10:30am.

“The boat was overloaded,” Soobedar Abdul Jabber told Pakistan Today at the Search and Rescue Post of Pakistan Coast Guards (PCG) located at Keamari Jetty near Khamis Gate, better known as Number One.

The owner of the boat, identified as Nasir, was said to have gotten aboard over 50 passengers in the launch, locally called “vohra”, which had the capacity to carry only 30 to 35 people.

Putting the number of passengers at 50, PCG’s duty in-charge Abdul Jabber said some 35 of them had been rescued.

“Search for 15 to 20 others is still underway by divers from PCG, Pakistan Navy and other rescue organisations,” he added.

The rescue officer said some of those rescued were in critical condition and were under treatment at the nearby KPTHospital and CivilHospital.

“Six of them were women. We have rescued three. The number of children in the boat is not known yet,” he said.

What caused the boat to sink?

The PCG officials and witnesses said the overloaded launch had gone underwater at a point between KeamariHarbour and BhitIsland after developing some technical fault.

“The stand tube, which holds the propeller of the boat, had broken which allowed seawater to enter,” said Ali Muhammad, who himself operates a passenger boat between Keamari and Manora and the two islands.

Abdul Jabber said water ingress had started through the broken tube even when the launch was taking passengers at the jetty.

Muhammad seconded Jabber in his statement that the boat was carrying at least 55 passengers against its 35-person capacity.

Tanvir Ahmed, a friend of Nasir’s, cited the same reason for the boat to sink, however, he said all the passengers were safely rescued and the TV channels were creating unnecessary hype.

“The boat seems to have gotten its stand tube broken. Or it maybe that its hull was broken,” said Tanvir, who is affiliated with fishing industry.

He went a step further to claim that all the passengers were rescued by another nearby sailing boat before the launch sank.

Amid divergent views, the search for more people was underway until the filing of this report.

Small launches, popularly known as “vohras”, usually sink in deep water of Keamari Port area mostly because of overload as launch owners try to get aboard maximum number of passengers to make more money.

“There is no one to regulate us in terms of load or fare,” lamented Muhammad.

Against the given fare of Rs 20, the sailor said, the boat owners were charging Rs 50 per head from thousands of passengers, including fishermen, picnickers and the residents of two Manora and islands.

Ironically, such life-threatening violations are committed under the nose of security agencies like the Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Coast Guards.