A group of tourists from Calcutta was stranded at sea off East Midnapore’s Mandarmani on Saturday after the speedboat they hired for a 15-minute spin broke down 2km from shore with no rescue infrastructure in place.

The group of five Rajarhat residents on board the boat also had a three-year-old in their party, which the others said caused “immense stress and worry” at the time, given that the boat operator and attendant did not have functioning mobile phones or walkie-talkies and proposed “waiting for five hours till evening” for the tide to push them ashore in Tajpur or Digha.

“We rented the boat for a joyride for Rs 500 each but it turned out to be a nightmare,” said Aveesha Bhattacharya, a doctor in Calcutta on board with her child, husband and two friends.

A member of their party on shore pressed other operators on shore to take a search boat out. “I was really fearing the worst,” said Calcutta resident Sejuti Roy, a college teacher.

“The episode showed the stark ill-preparation of all involved, especially those who grant licence (to the speedboats),” she added.

After their rescue, tourists said not one civic volunteer or official lifeguard was seen or heard from on or near shore.

Mandarmani officer-in-charge Anushka Maity promised to look into the incident.

One of the tourists who was on board, Jyotirmoy Roy, said their only option at sea was to wave their yellow life jackets in the hope that other boats would see. “In the meanwhile, we were drifting further away from shore. It was terrifying,” he said.

Sources said the state government issues licences to water sports operators in East Midnapore tourist towns.

District disaster management officials claimed licence terms dictated a rescue setup and Saturday's incident bared violating operators.

“We will launch an inquiry into this incident and stern action will be taken,” said disaster management official Mrityunjay Haldar.

TMC leader found dead

Raiganj: A Trinamul leader in Itahar block of North Dinajpur was found dead, with injury marks on the body, in a field off NH12 on Saturday.

Police and kin suspect Abdul Kashem, 40, was murdered.

The former booth committee chief of Gotlu under Itahar police station left home on Friday night.

He didn’t return. A youth has been detained. Kashem was also trader and money-lender.

Kousik Sen