Thaindian News

Thekkady (Kerala), Oct 2 (IANS) Indian Navy divers Friday evening ended their search in Kerala’s Thekkady lake for the day as four victims remained missing following the boat capsize that killed 41 tourists.
The tragedy, meanwhile, led to acrimony between the state government and the defence ministry over an alleged Rs.45 lakh payment demanded to transport the bodies in a military plane.

The divers resumed their search for missing tourists in the lake at the Periyar wildlife sanctuary Friday morning as slippers and scattered bits of clothing floated on the placid waters. The operations will continue Saturday.

“The search will resume tomorrow because four victims are yet to be traced,” said a government official.

The otherwise crowded wildlife sanctuary was quiet with just a handful of foreign tourists unaware of the tragedy two days ago standing at the rim of the lake, ringed by the forests famous for their elephant sightings.

Amongst those missing are the 19-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter of an Andhra Pradesh couple, who are in a hotel here but too heartbroken to talk to the media.

According to reports, a mother and daughter from Tamil Nadu also were reported yet untraced.

The dead were 12 each from Delhi and Tamil Nadu, five each from West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, three each from Karnataka and Kerala and one from Mumbai.

The state government, which has announced a judicial inquiry into the accident, also asked a Crime Branch police team led by Superintendent of Police A.P. Valsan to investigate the boat capsize.

Valsan and his team arrived at the accident site Friday to meet and collect evidence from those who survived the tragedy.

Chief Boat Inspector M. Mathews, meanwhile, gave a clean chit to the fitness of the boat and said the boat might have capsized because the driver made a quick turn.

The ill-fated double-decker fibreglass boat owned by the state-run Kerala Tourism Development Corporation was pressed into service only last month.

The tragedy sparked a row between the defence ministry and the state government. A Kerala minister alleged that the defence ministry had asked the state government for Rs.45 lakh for a military aircraft to transport the bodies of the people who had died in the boat capsize.

“We requested the defence ministry to provide a military aircraft to transport the victims’ bodies and survivors to different parts of the country. They demanded Rs.45 lakh as rent. They also said the aircraft could not be used for civilian purposes,” the minister told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

The state government, however, rejected the demand and instead chartered two planes from a private airline to take the bodies to different places, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, and spent less than Rs.25 lakh.

“We contacted Kingfisher Airlines and transported the bodies and survivors to different locations in two aircraft. They demanded Rs.400,000 per hour and the total cost is less than Rs.25 lakh,” the minister said.