The bodies were found locked together, mother and child still in an unbroken embrace. “We initially encountered difficulty retrieving the body of a woman from the wreckage,” one diver said, adding, “Then we realised she was holding her child tightly. It was difficult to separate them. Our team was deeply moved by the scene.” By Friday morning, the scene had come to define the cruise boat tragedy in the Bargi Dam area near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, where at least nine people have now been confirmed dead. What began as a leisure cruise on the Narmada reservoir has, in less than 24 hours, unravelled into a tragedy, a story of missed warnings, delayed safety responses and a rescue operation racing against time and terrain. “This morning, five more people were recovered . Yesterday, 22 people were rescued. In total, 31 people were involved,” said state Tourism Minister Dharmendra Lodhi, as divers continued to search the submerged vessel.…