Desk Correspondent , Bhopal - In a heart-wrenching discovery on Friday, divers recovered the body of a woman tightly clutching her child inside a sunken cruise boat at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district. The tragedy, triggered by a sudden storm on Thursday evening, has claimed at least nine lives, while 22 others were successfully rescued from the murky waters.

Rescuers from an Agra-based paramilitary diving team described a perilous recovery mission hampered by low visibility and a collapsed vessel structure. Divers were forced to use hammers to break through jagged iron rods and internal grilles to reach victims trapped in narrow, submerged pathways. One diver was briefly trapped during the operation as the team struggled to separate the woman from her child, a scene that moved the seasoned emergency personnel.

To date, the paramilitary team has recovered five bodies from the wreckage, including four adults and one child. Local authorities confirmed that the vessel overturned during the severe weather, and while search operations continue, the structural instability of the cruise boat remains a significant challenge for the diving teams.