A family decided against a boat ride and made a providential escape. Another went, and was almost wiped out. And someone who rushed to the rescue of victims found his family members among them.
These may seem like plot points straight out of a regular potboiler, but all of them happened on the evening of Sunday, 7 May.
In all, 12 members of a family were among the 22 people killed when a recreational boat sank near the estuary at Thoovaltheeram beach in the Malappuram district of Kerala around 7.30 pm on Sunday.
A fleet of ambulances took the bodies of the family home and laid them out on the foundation of a yet-to-be-constructed house near their small residence.
The funerals were conducted on the residential premises in the presence of a large crowd.
Kunnummal Saithalavi, his wife Zeenath, their children Hasna, Shafla, Shamna, Fidha, and Dilna, his brother Siraj’s wife Raseena and their children Sahra, Naira, and 18-month-old Rushtha were among those died in the tragedy.
Their relative Jalsiya and her son Jareer, too, met a watery grave when the boat, Atlantic, listed to port, capsized, and sank. They were all living together.
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Black Sunday
Officials of the Malappuram district administration said that 22 people were killed and 10 others were rescued and shifted to various hospitals.
Auto-rickshaw driver Shahul Hameed rushed to the beach in his three-wheeler after hearing about the tragedy on Sunday night. Fishermen and other boatmen had commenced the rescue work by the time he reached there.
Volunteers put a few children plucked out of the water in his vehicle, and he rushed them to a nearby hospital. On reaching the hospital, he realised that those were his sister’s children.
“My sister and her three children died in the accident,” he told a news channel.
Five others from his sister’s family and three relatives also perished in the tragedy, which brought to the fore the violations of several rules and the callousness of the operators.
A similar heartbreaking story came from the Chettipadi village, where four members of a family — a mother and her three children — lost their lives.
Two others of the family are hospitalised, and are said to be in a critical condition.
It being a Sunday and also a school vacation, many families visited Thoovaltheeram for the boat ride — an amusement spot closer home.
While the boat ride turned tragic for many, several others escaped after deciding to skip the boat ride at the last moment.
Kerala tragedy: 22, including 7 children, dead as overcrowded boat capsizes
Lucky escape
Brothers Isaac and Ibrahim and their families from Kondotty in Malappuram were at the beach’s amusement park when someone informed them of the boat ride.
“However, there was a difference of opinion among us about its safety, and therefore we decided to avoid it. We went back to the children’s play area. A while later, we heard of the tragedy,” they said.
“Later, when people were brought ashore in smaller boats, we realised that the same vessel that we were planning to board had sunk,” they said.
They also said that the boat was “packed beyond capacity” and that the person operating it was urging more people to board, saying it was the last trip.
While it did turn out to be the last trip for many, Shamsudeen and his family escaped the tragedy.
Shamsudeen told a TV channel over the phone that when the boat was coming in to pick up passengers for its last trip, he noticed it tilting. He decided to cancel the tickets he had brought.
“I pointed out the problem to the person operating the boat and he said there was nothing to worry about. He also said that there was no need for buying tickets for the children. There were five children in our group. But I decided against boarding the boat,” he said.
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Rules flouted: Residents
Shafeeq, a local rescue worker, informed South First that most people aboard the boat had no life jackets. It was one of the reasons for the higher number of casualties.
Additionally, the boat had two doors and both remained locked during the tragedy. As it capsized, people were trapped.
Shafeeq said the incident occurred when the boat was hardly 500 metres from the jetty.
“We gave CPR to many — most of them children — who had ingested water and were lifeless. It was so tragic. We did all we could,” he said.
Rescue work was initially delayed because of the darkness. However, the local community started saving people before the police and fire force personnel arrived at the scene.
Local residents said the boat was packed beyond its capacity of 20 persons. Its operators did not heed the warning of onlookers that the vessel was listing.
Soon after the incident, the boat’s owner Nassar went missing. A team led by the Malappuram DySP took him into custody from Tanur by Monday evening.
“It was a tragedy which was invited. It could have been avoided if the boat was not overcrowded or if it had not been operated beyond the permissible time. When the boat reached a turn in the river, it overturned as it was already listing to the port,” local residents said.
Another resident said there were no lights or ropes, available during the rescue operations. The local fishermen arrived with them and swung into action.
He also said that many more would have escaped if the boat did not have glass windows. There were only two doors also.
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Government announces action
The Kerala government on Monday announced a judicial probe into the tragedy. It also announced an ex gratia of ₹10 lakh each to the relatives of the deceased.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh each.
Talking to reporters after visiting the Tirurangandi Taluk Hospital and the Kunnummel family, which lost 12 members, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan termed the accident a “tragedy” and said the government would bear the medical expenses of those under treatment.
He announced the probe and the compensation after an all-party meeting held in Tanur, which senior opposition leaders also attended.
“The all-party meeting decided on a judicial inquiry into this matter. The probe will cover the technical issues related to the boat’s safety among other matters,” he told reporters.
“A judicial commission comprising technical experts will be formed. A special investigation team of the Kerala police will also probe the matter,” he added.
The chief minister said the government had earlier set up a safety protocol for tourist boats and would now examine if they were followed on Sunday.
He also said two out of the 10 admitted to the hospital had been discharged and eight persons were under treatment.
The state government announced a day of official mourning on Monday and cancelled all official events.
SHRC registers case
The State Human Rights Commission registered a suo motu case and directed the Malappuram district collector and the Chief Port Surveyor in Alappuzha to file reports on the incident within 10 days.
The panel would take up the case on 19 May.
Incidentally, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) earlier pointed out that the state government had not heeded safety recommendations.
The NHRC made the observation in its report, Boat Accidents in Inland Watters of Kerala, prepared in the wake of a boating accident which killed four people — two women tourists from Tamil Nadu and their children — on 26 January, 2013.
(With PTI inputs)
