TRICHY: Five members of a family in Tamil Nadu are among those who are missing after a cruise boat capsized in the Narmada river in Bargi dam near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.According to sources, Kamaraj, 38, of Navalpattu near Thiruverumbur in Trichy, along with his wife Karkuzhali, 38, their two sons Buvindhiran, 11, and Tamilvendhan, 5, and three other relatives from Tirupur, had travelled to Madhya Pradesh for a family trip.Kamaraj works as a mechanic at the Ordnance Factory explosives unit in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Buvindhiran and Tamilvendhan were studying in Class VI and UKG respectively at St Gabriel’s Higher Secondary School in Jabalpur.Since it was summer vacation, Karkuzhali had invited her parents Vadivel and Mariyammal, her sister-in-law Sowbhagya, and Sowbhagya’s children Iniya and Mayuran of Dharapuram in Tirupur district to spend the holidays at their home in Jabalpur.All of them arrived in Jabalpur on April 20. On Thursday evening, April 30, the family went to the Bargi dam on the Narmada river and boarded a cruise boat for a ride around 5.30pm. The boat capsized in the middle of the river.According to initial reports, at least nine people have died in the accident, with several others rescued and some still unaccounted for. In the accident, Kamaraj, Karkuzhali, their younger son Tamilvendhan, Karkuzhali’s sister-in-law Sowbhagya and Sowbhagya’s son Mayuran were missing.Buvindhiran and Iniya, who were wearing life jackets, were rescued. Fire and rescue teams are intensively searching for the missing people.The incident has shocked the families in Trichy and Tirupur, with relatives anxiously waiting for updates on the missing persons. They have appealed to the Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh governments to expedite the rescue efforts.Upon receiving information about the incident, some of Kamaraj’s family members immediately flew to Madhya Pradesh. Meanwhile, Kamaraj’s friends and colleagues from the Ordnance Factory are urging the authorities to take immediate steps to recover the bodies quickly and bring them back to Trichy, sources said.
