Houseboat accident: Kerala constitutes judicial commission to probe

Thiruvananthapuram: On the grave incident of a tourist boat capsizing in Kerala’s Malappuram district, the state government on Wednesday formed a three-member judicial commission to probe, PTI reported.

The incident that happened three days ago in Ottampuram Beach in Malappuram’s Tanur claimed 22 lives.

The commission will be headed by retired high court judge VK Mohanan and will have technical experts Neelakandan Unni (Retd. Chief Engineer, Inland Waterways Authority of India) and Suresh Kumar (Chief Engineer, Kerala Waterways and Infrastructure Limited) as members.

The decision to constitute the panel was taken by the state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today.

After visiting the victims in the hospitals in Malappuram on Monday, the Chief Minister announced a judicial inquiry into the matter and a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of each of those who died in the accident.

Besides, Rs 25 lakhs was also sanctioned for the medical expenses of the injured and rescue operations.

Apart from this, the Cabinet meeting also decided to bear the medical expenses of the injured for further treatment.

The boat carrying around 37 people capsized near an estuary close to the Thoovaltheeram beach in the Tanur area Sunday evening.

The capsized boat was carrying around 37 people when it was supposed to carry only 25 or fewer. The boat was running services flouting many security rules and regulations. It didn’t have life security measures, proper papers etc., it carried out the ill-fated service after allowed hours.

A special investigation team of the Kerala police was also constituted on Tuesday to probe the matter.