Death toll in Jodhpur cylinder blast climbs to 23, groom's parents among the deceased
Jodhpur (Raj), Dec 12: The death toll in the cylinder explosion during a wedding in Rajasthan's Jodhpur rose to 23 on Tuesday, with the groom's father and four others succumbing to injuries at a hospital here.
The cylinder explosion at Bhungra village in Shergarh subdivision on Thursday triggered a fire and left over 50 people injured.
Groom Surendra Singh's mother Dhapu Kanwar succumbed on Monday, while his father Sagat Singh, 55, had been battling for life. He breathed his last on Tuesday.
Superintendent of the MG Hospital Raj Shree Behra said that all the deceased victims had 50 per cent or more burn injuries and were admitted to the ICU.
Apart from Sagat Singh, Sugan Kanwar (35), Sooraj Kanwar (50), Aaidan Singh (8) and Dilip Sain (27) succumbed to injuries on Tuesday.
Behra said a team of 24 doctors, including a general surgeon, a plastic surgeon, a pediatric surgeon and an anesthetist, are working round-the-clock to attend to the injured.
Eleven women and 10 children are among the dead.
Some families have lost more than one member in the incident.
Rawal Singh (13), a nephew of the groom, is the only surviving member of his immediate family after his mother Jassu Kanwar and brother Lokendra Singh succumbed to injuries on Monday. His father died in 2018 due to some illness.
Rawal Singh left the house barely a few minutes before the explosion.
"We are unable to come to terms with what has happened. Should we be thankful that he is alive or mourn the demise of his mother and brother," said Sang Singh, brother of the groom.
District collector Himanshu Gupta visited the hospital and reviewed the arrangements and treatment of the injured.
"Some of the relatives had wished the injured to be taken to other centres but the best care and treatment is being provided here. Even a team of experts from Jaipur had expressed its satisfaction about the arrangements," said Gupta.
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
