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| | accessdate = 2009-10-05 | | accessdate = 2009-10-05 | ||
| | url = http://www.ptinews.com/news/314181_Boat-capsize--steerman--crew-member-arrested | | url = http://www.ptinews.com/news/314181_Boat-capsize--steerman--crew-member-arrested | ||
| }}</ref> They will appear before a magistrate at Peerumade in Idukki district later, police said.<ref name=zarrest/> | }}</ref> They will appear before a magistrate at Peerumade in Idukki district later, police said.<ref name=zarrest/> Samual was hospitalized in Theni after the accident, but following treatment, on Monday morning the Crime Branch took him back to the accident location and collected evidence.<ref name=zar2>{{Cite web | ||
| | title = Thekkady boat capsize; steerman, crew member arrested | |||
| |publisher=The Hindu | |||
| |date=5 October 2009 | |||
| | accessdate = 2009-10-05 | |||
| | url = http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/article29040.ece | |||
| }}</ref> | |||
| Preliminary inquiries revealed that the boat was overloaded, with 12 people on the upper deck.<ref name=zar2/> The police cited driver “carelessness”<ref name=zar2/>, that he “suddenly turned the boat to the right, after the tourists sighted the wild animals”<ref name=zar2/>, which lead to the imbalance.<ref name=zar2/> | |||
| Under questioning, Anish revealed that additional tourists were accommodated on the upper deck, contradicting Samual, who claimed that the sudden movement of tourists was the cause.<ref name=zar2/> | |||
| A Crime Branch official said that the survivors testimonies would also be considered before submitting a final report. The Crime Branch of Kottyam led by the Superintendent of Police collected evidence, and were also seeking details from the survivors from outside Kerala.<ref name=zar2/> | |||
| The driver was charged with causing death unintentionally.<ref name=zar2/> Crime Branch sources said that the arrested will be produced before the Magistrate Court at Peerumade, in the evening.<ref name=zar2/> | |||
| Two of the dead, Abhilash and Apoorva from Hyderabad, were handed over to the relatives by 10.30 p.m. on Sunday. Their parents Sunnur and Malathy survived the accident.<ref name=zar2/> | |||
| The boat was recovered and brought to the dock in Thekkady.<ref name=zar2/> | |||
| == References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 17:40, 5 October 2009
 | This article is about a current disaster where information can change quickly or be unreliable. The latest page updates may not reflect the most up-to-date information. Please help improve this article using reliable sources or help by discussing changes on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 The Jala Kanyaka, listing, is in a red square | |
 Zoomed image of tilted boat | |
| Location | Thekkady |
|---|---|
| Date | 30 September 2009 |
| No of People on the boat | 82 |
| No of Deaths | 45 |
| Name of Boat | Jalakanyaka |
The Thekkady boat tragedy occurred on September 30 2009, when the double-decker passenger boat Jalakanyaka sank in Lake Thekkady, Periyar National Park, Kerala, India. When the boat capsized, 45 tourists died, most of them from Delhi and Kolkata. A total of 82 people were on the boat.
Details
The double-decker sight-seeing boat Jala Kanyaka, operated by KTDC, made daily sigh-seeing trips in the Mullaperiyar reservoir in Idukki.
The boat set off at 4 p.m. and capsized 7 km away, at approximately 5 p.m. on 30 September 2009, in an area that was around 100m deep - one of the deepest parts of the reservoir.
Twenty people, mostly on the upper deck, were rescued by boats sent by KTDC, the Forest Department and Tamil Nadu Public Works Department.
By 8 p.m, a rescue team recovering 26 bodies, and two survivors. Most of the dead were women, many from outside Kerala. Rescue efforts continued into the night, hampered by the darkness and the distance from the dock.
The surrounding area has wild animals, including elephants, and is within the 777 sq km Periyar Tiger Reserve.
The dead included two foreign tourists, and people from Tamil Nadu, Delhi and West Bengal; more than 50 belonged to a group from Karnataka, who had come in a tourist bus to Thekkady as part of a tour of Kerala.
Both State and National government acted, asking defence establishments in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram to launch rescue attempts. Navy divers from Kochi has to travel overland, after their helicopter, sent to locate the victims, was forced back by bad weather.
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the Home & Tourism Minister of Keralaand, and N. K. Premachandran, the minister for Water Resources, arrived in Thekkady late at night.
Investigations
Preliminary reports stated that the accident occurred when a large number of passengers rushed to one side of the boat to see a herd Bison which came out of the forest habitat to the lake side. The sudden movement caused the boat to capsize, and all of the passengers were thrown into the water.
Later, this initial report was challenged when some of the rescued tourists reported structural problems with the boat, saying that it was tilted throughout the trip, for about 30 minutes. Then at one point the boat took a sharp turn, overturned and capsized.
The boat was owned and operated by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation. The government has been blamed for not privatizing these boats, for not enforcing safety precautions and for not having efficient disaster recovery plans. The crew of the boat, driver and helper escaped the incident. The passengers were not provided a life jacket before the trip.
Rescue Operation
Initial rescue attempts were made by the local people with the help of KTDC, Kerala Forest Department and Tamil Nadu PWD. None of the initial rescue boats which came had any divers. The rescue operations were hampered by the spreading darkness and the distance from the boat jetty. A team of divers from Indian Navy were assigned to help the rescue operation after 5–6 hours of the event.
Politicians, officials of the district administration and forest department state forces attended. A team of 40-50 navy divers were rushed to the spot from the Southern Naval Command at Kochi. On 3 October, the search for bodies was still ongoing.
The Government of Kerala ordered a judicial inquiry into the boat tragedy. The government would meet the expenses for sending the bodies of the deceased to their home states and said that Rs.5 Lakhs would be provided to the next kin of each of the dead in the accident.
Arrests
On 5 October, the steerman Victor Samuel, and one other crew member, Anish, were arrested Monday. They will appear before a magistrate at Peerumade in Idukki district later, police said. Samual was hospitalized in Theni after the accident, but following treatment, on Monday morning the Crime Branch took him back to the accident location and collected evidence.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that the boat was overloaded, with 12 people on the upper deck. The police cited driver “carelessness”, that he “suddenly turned the boat to the right, after the tourists sighted the wild animals”, which lead to the imbalance.
Under questioning, Anish revealed that additional tourists were accommodated on the upper deck, contradicting Samual, who claimed that the sudden movement of tourists was the cause.
A Crime Branch official said that the survivors testimonies would also be considered before submitting a final report. The Crime Branch of Kottyam led by the Superintendent of Police collected evidence, and were also seeking details from the survivors from outside Kerala.
The driver was charged with causing death unintentionally. Crime Branch sources said that the arrested will be produced before the Magistrate Court at Peerumade, in the evening.
Two of the dead, Abhilash and Apoorva from Hyderabad, were handed over to the relatives by 10.30 p.m. on Sunday. Their parents Sunnur and Malathy survived the accident.
The boat was recovered and brought to the dock in Thekkady.
References
- ^
32 drown as boat topples in Thekkady, 1 October 2009, p. Front Page, retrieved 2009-10-05
{{citation}}: Unknown parameter|publication=ignored (help) - ^ Boat capsize; steerman, crew member arrested, 5 October 2009, retrieved 2009-10-05
{{citation}}: Unknown parameter|publication=ignored (help) - "Thekkady boat mishap: toll reaches 45". Press Trust of India. 5 Oct 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
- "Three more bodies recovered from Thekkady lake, toll 44". Sify. 3 Oct 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
- ^ "10 Delhiites among 41 dead in avoidable boat tragedy". Times of India. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
- ^ "Thekkady boat capsize; steerman, crew member arrested". The Hindu. 5 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-05.