THEKKADY, Kerala: The death toll from the tourist boat tragedy in Kerala has reached 41 on Thursday with naval divers fishing out more bodies from the reservoir where the vessel sank a day earlier with 76 holidaymakers on board.
Though the Navy stopped their search operations in the Thekkady Lake Thursday afternoon amidst heavy rains, police said they would continue search since a few more tourists were still reported missing. The bodies recovered during the overnight searches were sent back by the evening.
“We have recovered 41 bodies so far, but people are still coming to us saying some people staying with them in their lodges are still missing. So we are continuing the searches,” said Director General of Police (DGP) Jacob Punnoose. “We have to rule out that they were not aboard the boat”.
Twelve bodies were flown to Delhi while others were sent to their homes in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and West Bengal. Most of the victims were enjoying the Pooja holidays in Kerala, one of India’s busiest holiday destinations.
The state government has announced an ex-gratia of INR500,000 to the kin of each victim. It also offered to bear all expenses for transporting bodies to their homes by road or by air. There were only three Keralites among the dead: a husband and wife living in Tamil Nadu and their four-year-old son.
“We have made all arrangements to send the bodies back to their homes without any delay,” Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan said from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
Meanwhile, a British couple that escaped drowning and an eyewitness who was following the ill-fated boat in another watercraft disputed the official version that the lightweight fiberglass boat was perfectly built but it overturned because the passengers had gathered on one side of the vessel to view wild animals in Periyar National Park.
