Jabalpur boat tragedy: Two of Tamil Nadu family drown, three missing

TRICHY: Two members of a Tamil Nadu family were among those who drowned after a cruise boat capsized in Bargi dam near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. Three members of the family were among those missing.The two deceased from the Tamil Nadu family have been identified as Kamaraj, 38, of Navalpattu near Thiruverumbur in Trichy and his wife Karkuzhali, 38.According to sources, the couple, their sons Buvidharan, 11, and Tamilvendhan, 5, and their three relatives from Tirupur had travelled to Madhya Pradesh on a family trip.Kamaraj worked as a mechanic at the Ordnance Factory explosives unit in Jabalpur. Buvindhiran, 11, and Tamilvendhan, 5, 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 in the Narmada river and boarded a cruise boat for a ride around 5.30pm. The boat capsized in the middle of the river.Buvidharan and Iniya, who were wearing life jackets, were rescued. The bodies of Kamaraj and Karkuzhali were recovered. Tamilvendhan, Karkuzhali’s sister-in-law Sowbhagya and Sowbhagya's son Mayuran were still missing.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 steps to recover the bodies quickly and bring them to Trichy, sources said.