Three navy personnel are among the dead, while more than 100 people have been rescued, Maharashtra state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

Footage of the incident posted online shows the speedboat circling before smashing into the ferry, which later capsized.

The Indian navy said there had been an “engine malfunction”. An inquiry has been ordered to find out what led to the collision, according to local media reports.

The privately owned ferry was making its way to the Elephanta Caves, a popular tourist destination, when it was hit by the speedboat.

“A Navy craft undergoing engine trials lost control and collided with a passenger ferry,” the navy said, adding that it regretted the “tragic loss” of life.

Gautam Gupta told The Times of India that he initially thought the speedboat had been performing stunts and was filming it from the deck when it crashed into the ferry.

Another passenger who was on board told media that he had swum for 15 minutes before another boat came to their rescue.

Anil Bamane, who was one of the first rescuers at the scene, told the Hindustan Times newspaper the air was filled with the sound of crying and screams for help.

Survivors told local media that ferry staff had not provided any instructions following the collision, leaving passengers to scramble to safety on their own.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered condolences to the families of the victims of the incident and called the incident saddening.

He also announced 200,000 rupees ($2,352; £1,869) for the families of the deceased, as well as 50,000 rupees for those injured in the accident.

This is the second such incident in a month. The first occurred on 22 November, when two people were reported missing after a submarine collided with a fishing trawler off the coast of Goa.

The boat was carrying about 200 passengers from the state of Kogi to a food market in the neighbouring state of Niger when it capsized late on Thursday, with more than half reportedly missing, according to Ibrahim Audu, a spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency.

By Friday evening, rescuers had managed to pull 27 bodies from the river while local divers were still searching for the missing passengers, according to Sandra Musa, spokeswoman for the Kogi State emergency services.

“It’s not clear what caused the accident,” Musa said. Among possible causes, she listed turbulence on the waterway and the age of the boat, attributing the death toll to the absence of life jackets. None of the bodies recovered had life jackets on, she said.

Rescuers had trouble finding the location of the accident for hours, according to Justin Uwazuruonye, who is in charge of Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency operations in the state.

Kogi State Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo said in a statement that most of the victims were women, traders and artisans “involved in legitimate business activities to earn a living and contribute to the economy of the state”.

Villagers and volunteers downstream of the accident were urged to be on the lookout for bodies.

The accident was the latest in a series of mass drownings on the country’s busy waterways, as authorities struggle to enforce safety measures and regulations for water transportation.

Last month, some 100 people were feared dead after a boat carrying 300 passengers, many of them women and children, to a Muslim festival in Niger State flipped over in the river.

In September, an overloaded boat sank while carrying more than 50 farmers across the Gummi River in Zamfara State, killing more than 40.

In June 2023, more than 100 people died when a riverboat carrying about 250 passengers capsized in the north-central state of Kwara.

Most of the accidents have been attributed to overcrowding and a lack of maintenance of the boats, often built locally to carry as many passengers as possible in defiance of safety measures.

Also, authorities have not been able to enforce the use of life jackets on such trips, often because of lack of availability or cost.