Nawalpur (Nawalparasi) : Efforts to retrieve the ‘Rhino’ mini-cruise ship swept downstream by the Narayani River’s floodwaters on Sunday evening and subsequently stuck at the bridge over the river have failed to give any positive result.
Despite attempts starting as early as Sunday it has not yet been possible to draw out the vessel.
Chiranjivi Rana, Assistant Chief District Officer of Nawalparasi (Bardaghat-Susta East), stated that the retrieval operation was initiated due to the risks posed by the cruise remaining lodged against the bridge’s pillar.
Two cranes and an excavator were used to try to bring out the cruise ship but the effort was suspended after a cable snapped just as the vessel was pulled slightly upstream (northward) from the pillar where it was stuck.
Vehicle movement across the bridge was completely halted while the cruise ship was being pulled. The Rhino Cruise ship had been operating commercially on the Narayani River since last year—before it was swept away by the flooded river last Sunday.
Ganesh Aryal, the Chief District Officer (CDO) of Chitwan, suggested that the cruise ship might have been swept away by the floodwaters because the operating company had not secured its parking effectively.
However, Managing Director of Rhino Cruise, Deepak Dhungel, argued that the vessel had been moored in the Narayani River in accordance with international standards. He claimed that, for safety purposes, the cruise was secured using two 20mm tochen ropes and fastened following international best practices.
However, the vessel was swept away because it could not withstand the massive surge of water in the Narayani River triggered by heavy incessant rainfall.
Managing Director Dhungel noted that the cruise ship weighs 60 tons, is 95 feet long and 21 feet wide.
