13 dead after Indian Navy speedboat rams ferry off Mumbai

MUMBAI: An Indian navy speedboat undergoing tests in the busy seas off the financial capital Mumbai lost control and slammed into a ferry, killing 13 people, the navy and government said Wednesday.

Videos posted by Indian newspapers -- apparently filmed by some of the passengers on the crowded ferry -- showed the open speedboat cruising through the waters before it turns sharply and rams the ferry.

Photographs later showed the ferry capsized.

“Doctors have declared 13 people dead”, Maharashtra state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters, adding more than 100 people had been rescued. “I pay my heartfelt tributes to those who died in this accident”, Fadnavis said, adding that “we share the grief of their families”. The ferry was carrying passengers from the Gateway of India -- a colonial-era monument on the waterfront that is symbolic of Mumbai -- to the popular tourist spot of Elephanta Island, famous for its rock carvings.