PANJIM: For the second time in three months, commuters on the Panjim-Betim ferry route faced hardships when two passenger ferries suffered system failures on two consecutive days.

Fortunately, commuters were not stuck mid-river as the ferry named ‘Betim’ managed to reach the wharf using its emergency engine in an incident that occurred on Monday, whereas the engine of the ferry ‘Zuari’ failed to start at the starting point at Panjim jetty on Tuesday.

The two boats were put into operation by Tuesday evening, after undergoing repairs at the River Navigation Department workshop.

“The first engine of ‘Betim’ stopped functioning while it was ferrying passengers from Betim to Panjim jetty. The coxswain managed to safely reach passengers to their destination through the second engine, which is used during emergency. The boat was towed to the workshop for repairs,” a senior RND official told Herald.

With the route left with just one ferry boat on Tuesday, it too suffered a mechanical defect at the starting point at around 12.30pm.