Thekkady: The toll in the Thekkady
boat mishap climbed to 41 with ten more bodies being fished
out on Thursday even as the Kerala government ordered a judicial
inquiry into the tragedy.
The mishap occurred when the state-run double decker
boat 'Jalakanyaka' carrying 74 tourists tilted after several
tourists moved to one side on sighting elephants in the
Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary on the banks of the lake yesterday.
A team of rescuers which included divers have
extricated 39 bodies from the partly submerged boat, officials
said.
The toll may go up as some more people are yet to be
traced, they said, adding, the search operation continued in
the morning hours.
Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said a
judicial inquiry will be conducted into the mishap.
The service of a Kerala High Court sitting judge would
be sought for the probe, he told reporters.
He also announced a solatium of Rs five lakh each to
the next of kin of the deceased and said state authorities
will ensure that bodies were transported quickly back to the
families of the victims.
Eleven Delhiites, including eight women and a
14-year-old boy, were among those killed in the mishap.
The other deceased have been identified as nine from Tamil
Nadu, five from West Bengal, four from Andhra Pradesh, three
from Karnataka and one from Punjab.
Eyewitnesses said no safety measures like life
jacket or life guard were in place in the boat that sank.
Smitha Maurya, who saw the mishap from another boat
close by, said there was no life jacket or life guard in the
boat.
A tourist from Tamil Nadu, who managed to swim to
safety, said the accident took place within half an hour after
the cruise began.
"The boat tilted when most of those on board moved to
one side to have a better glimpse of animals moving close to
the bank. He said the boat sank in the middle of the lake. I
don't know how I managed to escape from the capsized boat," he
said.
Smitha's husband Pankaj Maurya said four to five boats
were cruising in the lake at the time of the accident. "We
were shocked to see the boat turning to one side and getting
submerged. Immediately, we started the rescue operation by
throwing air-filled tubes and ropes and whatever we could lay
our hands on", he said.
There were no prior instructions on safety aspects by
the boat crew before undertaking the journey. All they had
said was that no accident had taken place in the lake in the
last 50 years, he said.
Another survivor Amit Gogoi said, "It happened in a
matter of a fraction of a second when the driver lost control
of the boat and it started tilting."
He said, "There was no back up. We were waiting for
half-an-hour for somebody to turn the boat back and that
half-an-hour was crucial."
The boat sank after cruising five km from the boarding
point from where it had set out around four pm yesterday.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, October 01, 2009, 17:36