The Jabalpur boat tragedy has left the country mourning. With the bodies of a 5-year-old child and his uncle being recovered, the death toll has now risen to 13. As the stories of survivors continue to emerge, Bollywood actor Sonu Sood has taken to his social media account and demanded accountability for what happened.
Taking to his X account,Sonu Sood wrote, “A while ago, I tweeted about the Bihar boat tragedy, urging life jackets for every passenger. Then came Vrindavan… and now Madhya Pradesh, more lives lost the same way. How many more? It’s time to make it mandatory: no boat should leave without every passenger wearing a life jacket. We also need a govt portal where each trip uploads time-stamped proof of all passengers in life jackets before
departure. Only strict accountability can save lives.”
A while ago I tweeted about the Bihar boat tragedy, urging life jackets for every passenger. Then came Vrindavan… and now Madhya Pradesh, more lives lost the same way. How many more? It’s time to make it mandatory: no boat should leave without every passenger wearing a life… pic.twitter.com/M8wC3Grmz0
— sonu sood (@SonuSood) May 1, 2026
About the tragedy
As per officials, the reservoir was lashed by strong winds around 6 pm on Thursday, because of which the waters turned choppy. According to eyewitnesses, the passengers on the boat raised alarms and asked the crew to return to the shore; however, they did not heed their cries, and the boat drifted before capsizing.
Some locals made efforts to rescue passengers with the help of ropes, especially those who had life jackets on. However, the rest drowned. After the tragedy, a survivor alleged that there was a lack of basic safety measures and said that not all passengers were given life jackets.
Speaking to the media, Minister Singh said, “The situation will be clear in some time,” and, “After the rescue operation concludes, it will be clear why people could not be saved even when they were wearing life jackets.”
Speaking to IANS, a survivor said, “The storm was very strong, and the waves were very high… Two waves came and entered inside the cruise. The waves were coming faster, and the glass broke and the ship turned… I myself gave life jackets to people and told them to wear them.”
One of the survivors claimed that life jackets were either insufficient or distributed only after the boat had already begun to sink. Passengers were forced to scramble and distribute life jackets among themselves in panic, leaving many without protection as the vessel overturned.
