Very few life jackets and boat was overcrowded: Survivors recall horror

Ashraf Pathaan shudders as he recounts the harrowing sequence of events from Wednesday, right from when the ferry boat he and his family members were travelling on was hit by a Navy craft, to when help finally arrived and rescued him and two of his family members. He, however, lost his wife and a seven-year-old in the tragedy off the Mumbai coast.

- Vinay Dalvi

MUMBAI: Ashraf Pathaan shudders as he recounts the harrowing sequence of events from Wednesday, right from when the ferry boat he and his family members were travelling on was hit by a Navy craft, to when help finally arrived and rescued him and two of his family members. He, however, lost his wife and a seven-year-old in the tragedy off the Mumbai coast. "We would not have survived had the help arrived even five minutes late," a teary-eyed Pathaan, a clothes trader from Mapusa in Goa, said.

Pathaan was accompanied by his wife Safeena, their two children—seven-year-old Zohan and 10-month-old Azaan—and his sister-in-law on the ferry 'Neel Kamal' heading to the Elephanta Island from Gateway of India when a Navy craft undergoing engine trials lost control and collided with it.