Family members of a youth who reportedly survived the Panama boat tragedy, in which at least 24 persons from Punjab were feared drowned, today said six others too were rescued by a woman who was near the scene of the accident.
The victims were reportedly headed to the US illegally in a boat when it capsized on January 10 between the Colombian port city of Turbo and neighbouring South American country Panama.
"We got a call from our son Jaswinder on January 11 informing us about the tragedy. He along with six others was saved by a woman who was in a boat near the scene of the accident," Rajinder Singh, his father said.
One of the associates of the travel agent who arranged for Sonu's journey to the USA, might have facilitated the call. However we could not contact Sonu after that, he said.
A person in Kapurthala district too lodged a police complaint about his two sons having gone missing and said that travel agents had taken Rs 24-25 lakh for arranging for their journey to the USA.
Police have already arrested two travel agents from Jalandhar in this connection. The two agents have been identified as Harbhajan Singh alias Suchcha and Kulvindar Singh alias Multani.
Both of them hail from Bhogpur area in Jalandhar district, sources said, adding the duo was being interrogated.
Meanwhile, president of North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) Satnam Singh Chahal has demanded a probe into the tragedy and said like Maharashtra and Kerala, Punjab too should set up a separate body to keep an eye on those travelling to foreign countries.
