Former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly's brother and sister-in-law, Snehasish and Arpita Ganguly, had their boat upended in the sea in Odisha on Sunday. The incident took place amid water sports activity in Odisha's Puri. Arpita Ganguly blamed the boat carriers and operators, saying that the smaller number of people in the boat led to it overturning in the sea before being rescued by the lifeguards. Rubber floats were being used to rescue the tourists in the video going viral on the internet.
"The sea was already very rough. There was a capacity of 10 people on the boat, but due to the greed for money, they allowed only three to four people on board. This was the last boat to go into the sea for the day. We had raised concerns over going into the sea, but the operators told us that it is fine," Aprita Ganguly narrated the incident. Ganguly, who visibly looked a bit overwhelmed and shocked after the incident, further mentioned that as soon as they went into the sea, the boat was hit by a huge wave, furthering the impact, with the boat already understaffed.
"If the lifeguards had not come, we would not have been saved. I'm still in trauma...never faced something like this. If there were more people on the boat, maybe it would not have flipped," she said while calling for a bit more scrutiny of the operators and authorities around the coastal area, especially with the pre-season monsoon hit several parts of the country.
"Authorities should ban these sports here. Puri beach has a very rough sea. I will write a letter to the Superintendent of Police and the Chief Minister once I go back to Kolkata, asking them to stop watersports here," she said.
Heavy rains are expected in coastal Odisha this week with the IMD predicting rainfall in areas such as Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, and Koraput districts on Tuesday and Puri, Khurdah, Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, and Malkangiri districts on Wednesday.
