Deadly accidents and Rs 6,450 cr drug haul, Gujarat saw it all in 2024

For Gujarat, 2024 turned out to be a year of drug hauls and deadly accidents, with security agencies seizing Rs 6,450 crore drugs, a game zone fire in Rajkot claiming 28 lives and a dozen children drowning in a boat capsize in Vadodara.

The total drug haul in the state during the year was 4,862 kg which included charas, mephedrone (MD drug), cocaine and hashish.

Three persons lost their lives after a Coast Guard helicopter crashed into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Porbandar in September.

The year began with the boat accident in Vadodara in January, in which 14 people, 12 of them school children, lost their lives, while in May, 28 people, most of them youngsters, were killed in a fire at a game zone in Rajkot.

These tragedies revealed how business operators cut corners, did not have safety equipment in place and slipped under the radar of the authorities.

The children and two teachers died after their boat overturned in Harni Lake on the outskirts of Vadodara city during a school picnic on January 18.