Bhubaneswar, May 26 Former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly’s elder brother, Snehasish Ganguly and his wife, Arpita, had a narrow escape while enjoying water sports in Puri Sea, police said on Monday.
The District Administration of Puri informed that an enquiry has been ordered into the incident, assuring stringent action against the guilty.
The incident occurred on Saturday evening near the Lighthouse in Puri when the couple was enjoying a speedboat ride. A video doing the rounds shows the speedboat upside down in the rough waters of the sea when the lifeguards were trying to rescue the tourists. Officials used rubber floats to rescue them. The former captain’s sister-in-law allegedly claimed that the speedboat was light with a smaller number of passengers on board, which led to the overturning of the boat.
"The sea was already very rough. There was a capacity of 10 people on the boat, but out of sheer 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 due to high tide, but the operators told us that it is fine," Arpita said.
She further added that her husband also initially refused to get into the sea due to the rough water, but they insisted. Arpita stated that as soon as they went into the sea, a huge wave hit their boat, which turned upside down. "If the lifeguards had not come, we would not have been saved. I'm still in trauma...never faced something like this," she added. She urged the state and district administration not to allow such water sports at the Puri Sea beach, which has always been rough.
Arpita also demanded stringent action against the operators of boats at the beach. “After getting information about the incident, I immediately ordered the Sub collector to initiate an enquiry into the whole matter. The permission granted to the concerned agency (operating the boats for water spots) and its area of operation will also be verified,” said Siddharth Shankar Swain, Puri district collector. He told media persons that the district administration will take necessary steps so that such incidents don’t occur in future.
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