Kochi boat tragedy: Toll reaches 7

Kochi, August 27

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Death toll in the Fort Kochi boat tragedy has risen to seven with the recovery of a body of an 18-year-old girl in a harbour near here this morning, the police said.

Navy, Coast Guard and Marine police personnel restarted search operations this morning for three more missing persons, including a woman.

The exact number of passengers on board the boat at the time of the mishap was yet to be ascertained, the police said.

The police, however, said preliminary investigation indicates that there were about 35 people in the boat, said to be over three-decades old, which capsized and sank after being allegedly hit by a speeding fishing craft in the harbour mouth off Fort Kochi yesterday.

About 25 passengers have been rescued from the sinking boat and admitted to various hospitals.

Police said the body of the girl, Sujisha, was found in the Chellanam harbour this morning.

It was the quick rescue operations initiated by the local people and tourists, who were witness to the tragedy, that saved lives of several passengers, eye witnesses have stated.

Police said the passenger boat broke into two pieces and sank after it was forcefully hit in its middle by the speeding fishing craft.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who visited the injured in the hospital here last evening, had said the government will bear the treatment expense of the people admitted in various hospitals.

The passenger vessel was on its way from Vypin to Fort Kochi when it was hit by the fishing craft at the harbour mouth at about 1.40 pm yesterday. — PTI