New Delhi, October 02: Rescuers found another nine bodies Thursday from a double-decker tourist boat that capsized on a reservoir in southern India, raising the death toll to 41 with more than a dozen people still missing, police said.
The boat carrying 74 tourists capsized Wednesday evening after the tourists rushed to one side to look at elephants in a wildlife sanctuary, tipping the vessel, told police officer R. Rajesh.
Rescuers have pulled 40 bodies from the reservoir in the Thekkady forest area in Kerala state and were looking for 14 missing people, Rajesh said. Most of the tourists were from the neighboring state of Karnataka, he said.
Rajesh said 20 people were hospitalized. Eleven of them had injuries that were not life-threatening, police officer D.K. Vijay said Thursday. None of the tourists were foreigners, police officer V. Vijayan said.
The state government asked a judge to investigate the accident. The accident site is nearly 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) south of the capital, New Delhi. Kerala is a popular tourist destination for both Indians and foreigners.
The boat tipped over when the tourists all went to one side to look at elephants on the banks of the lake.
Some foreign tourists were on the boat, district collector Ashok Kumar Singh said, but he did not know how many. A navy helicopter has joined night rescue operations.
“The death toll is likely to rise, as some more people are yet to be traced. The search for them is still continuing,” Idukki District Collector Ashok Kumar Singh said.
Search and rescue operations have been on since Monday night. And now, the episode has acquired a political tone.
“The Chief Minister should have visited the area. The families of those dead should be given Rs 10 lakh each,” said Lalu Prasad Yadav, RJD chief.
But no amount of money may be enough for these people for whom festivities turned into immense grief.
The lake is in Thekkady wildlife sanctuary, a popular tourist attraction for tiger and elephant spotting. Boat accidents are common in India, where many vessels are unsafe and overloaded.
–Agencies–