BHUBANESWAR: “I was the happiest person on the earth, when I had taken her to my arms after she came to the world. And I lost her in my arms after the ill-fated boat capsized in Chilika lake,” said Rabi Narayan Das, 35, whose daughter and wife died in the Chilika boat capsizing incident occurred on Saturday evening.Rabi Narayan of Dimisur village under Sarankul police limits in Nayagarh district lost his eight-year-old daughter Sradhanjali Das and wife Pramodini Das, 28, in the incident.He said front part of his boat suddenly went down into the lake after strong wind hit it. When water entered into the boat, it got submerged. “I started searching for my wife and daughter. I found my daughter from the boat’s polythene shed. I cuddled her in my arms and clung to my body apprehending she might get slipped into current of water. I was swimming in the lake water by holding a part of the boat,” he added.Rabi Narayan said his wife was on the opposite side of the boat. “At first I could not find my wife immediately. As my daughter was on my shoulder, I could not save my wife from drowning. I saw Pramodini’s death in my eyes. I was crying for help. But nobody was there,” he added.After 30 minutes, a boat passing the capsized boat came for help of the survivors. “Other passengers in the new boat started helping my daughter to keep her warm and tried to ooze out water from her mouth. When I reached Barkul ghat, I ran for medical help for my daughter at Balugaon CHC. But doctors declared her dead. Without my knowledge, tide water had entered into her mouth. It might have caused her death,” he added.Rabi Narayan, a mason, presently lives in Bhubaneswar with his wife and daughter. His daughter was a class III student in a school at Chandrasekharpur. “I along with some friends first went to Ugratara at Bhusandpur in Khurda district on Saturday afternoon. I was not interested to go to Chilika, but my friends insisted to go Chilika. I went there finally and lost my wife and daughter,” he added.He further said, “My daughter was everything for me. I always buy new things for her to keep her happy. I had planned the trip to make her happy. But I did not know that the boat ride in Chilika will be her last ride. I cremated my wife and daughter on a same place in my own hand.”

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