Early ramp drop on Ribandar-Chorao ferry jolts riders, no injuries reported

Panaji: An incident occurred aboard the Ribandar–Chorao ferry on Tuesday after the coxswain, Damodar Palyekar, reportedly lowered the gangplank (ferry ramp) too early while approaching the jetty.The steel gangplank struck the concrete ramp during landing, causing a sudden jerk which resulted in commuters and some two-wheeler vehicles aboard the vessel to lose balance and fall inside the ferry itself. An internal inquiry is underway.“The hydraulic wench control is with the coxswain who operates it from the cabin itself. The gangplank needs to be precisely lowered so that it slides on the ramp and then stops. This is a very crucial and sensitive operation. However, before approaching the ramp, he dropped the gangplank early which resulted in the vessel banging against the concrete ramp. Three bikes and their riders felt the jerk and fell inside the ferry, but luckily there were no injuries,” said director, river navigation department (RND), Vikramsinh Rajebhosale.He further clarified that the incident was not due to any hydraulic system failure, attributing the mishap solely to operational error. The vessel resumed operations by 8.30pm the same day.