THEKKADY BOAT TRAGEDY

THEKKADY BOAT TRAGEDY
45 tourists, most of them women, on board a double-decker boat owned and operated by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) were killed when it capsized in one of the deepest zones of the Mullaperiyar dam reservoir in Idukki district around 5 p.m on wednesday,30th september 2009.
A total 82 persons including crew members were travelling in the boat, named Jala Kanyaka' 60 of the them belonged to one group from Karnataka. All the 60 persons from Karnataka came in a tourist bus to Thekkady as part of their tour of Kerala.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accident took place when a large group of tourists on the upper deck rushed to one side of the boat to see animals spotted on the forest fringes, the boat overturned. All the 82 people in the boat were thrown in to the water.
Twenty persons, who were mostly on the upper deck of the boat, were rescued by boats sent in by the KTDC, the Forest Development and the Tamil Nadu PWD.
Rescue operations were called off in the saturday evening, 2nd October, 2009. A team of naval divers returned to the boat landing center by 6 pm. The Indian Navy has deputed 23 of its divers for the search operations.
The Visuals of the Thekkady Tragedy point t6o the absence of safety arrangements on boats. What ever the reason for the accident, the authorities cannot escape responsibility for their failure to ensure adequate safety. Where were the life jackets? Were the tourists told how to use them in case of emergencies?
The drowning over 45 tourists in the Thekkady reservoir should open the eyes of the government and the public. The tragedy points to a serios lapse of basic safety procedure. It is difficult to control crowds that are excited and lose sight of the dangers involved.
It most be remembered that in 2007 another tragedy took place in Thattekad in Ernakulam, taking away 18 lives. These incidents have created an impression that all is not well in the matter of boat rides. The authorities should find out not only what went wrong and who was responsible for the Thekkady incident but also initiate measures to ensure that such tragedies do not recure.
Last week of September 2009 two major boat tragedies, the first in Bihar, second in Kerala- have claimed over 100 lives. In Bihar at least 60 persons, including 34 children drowned when a boat sank in the swollen Bagmati river. 45 people died in the Thekkady Boat Tragedy.
In the Thekkady Tragedy Kerala government has ordered a Judicial inquiry in to the accident groups of tourists from other states including Karnataka, TamilNadu, Delhi and west Bengal were involved. Preliminary reports indicate that when a sizable section of the tourists on board moved to one side to catch a glimpse of the elephants moving around the lake, the boat capsized.
The tourists were not wearing the life jackets on board- nobody had insisted on their doing so
the accident took place at least seven kilometers away from the boat house, it took time for the rescue boats to get into the act. Passengers must also take the prescribed safety precautions seriously, and co-operate with the authorities.
The Tragedy at Thekkady has claimed the most number of lives in a boat accident in the state. The last major accident occurred at Kumarakom in Kottayam in 2002 in which 29 travellers of a passengers boat died. This was followed by the accident in 2007 at Thattekad, near Kothamangalsm in which 18 students and teachers, who were on a picnic died. In both cases, over loading was one of the factors that led to the accident.
The first recorded boat accident in the state was in 1924 in Pallana river in Alappuzha district which claimed the life of poet Kumaranasan. The accident took away 24 lives. As many as 29 persons diied in an accident near kumbalangi in Ernakulam in 1980. Another accident at Vallar Padom in the district claimed 18 lives in 1983.
the other accidents that occurred in the state during last two decades were the following with the toll in brackets. Peppara dam, Thiruvananthapuram (7) Iritti river, Kannur ($) Pannamadekayal, Alappuzha (#) Kallar, Thiruvananthapuram (*) Munambam, Ernakulam (#) Kochi back waters, Ernakulam(%) Vellayikadu, Kozhicodu (^) Kappad beach, Kozhikodu ($) and Aluva, Ernakulam (4)
The Crime Branch arrested Victor Samuel, driver of the boat involved in the tragedy that killed 45 people in Thekkedy, and Anish,crewman. An official of the Crime Branch, which conducted the preliminary inquiry,said the ill afcted boat was overloaded with 12 persons on the upper deck and the carelessness' of the driver led to the accident,as he suddenly turned the boat to the right after the tourists sighted wild animals and moved to one side causing imbalance.
The official said Anish, on questioning, revealed that additional tourists were accommodated on the upper deck, contradicting the drivers stand that the sudden movements of tourists to one side resulted in the accident.
The Crime Branch had collected evidence on the spot and would also seek details from the survivors from outside kerala. The case charged against the drivers was for causing death unintentionally. The arrested were produced before the magistrate court at peerumade. The magistrate remanded them to 14 days custody.
The Cabinet high level conference, convened to review safety at tourism center against the backdrop of the Thekkady boat tragedy decided to conduct a safety audit to all tourist boats in the state.
All tourists traveling on bots for sightseeing would be required to wear life jackets. Children below 15 years of age will not be allowed 15 years of age will not be allowed to travel with out life jackets under any circumstances. Life guard each would be ported for every 25 passengers in a boat and tickets would be issued with names of the passengers on them. The Tourism department would rescue boats at important tourists center selected by it
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday October 1, 2009 extended her condolences to the families of those killed in the boat tragedy in the Thekkady lake on Wednesday 30th September. She also urged the authorities concerned to ensure that such a tragedy never rescued.

Prof John Kurakar