A country fishing craft carrying a group of children on a pleasure trip capsized, drowning six of them in Kadukuzhi backwaters in Malappuram districtChangaramkulam, Malappuram: The six children, who drowned in backwaters near Ponnani Kole in Malappuram district, had ventured into the Naranippuzha in the wooden boat to watch the water gushing in through an earthen bund that had breached recently, according to local people.
Velayudhan, the elder member of the family, took the children for a leisure trip through the backwater after they expressed the wish to see the water flow of the broken bund.
The wooden boat swayed to the sides and swirled because of the strong current in the river when it reached an isolated spot adjacent to the bund. In the impact, the children were thrown into the water. Though Velayudhan attempted to rescue them, he exhausted himself after being caught in the water current and the slushy bottom of the water body.
The boat capsized about 200 meters off the banks.
Vaishna, Adidev, Adinath, Pooja, Janeesha, Praseena were the victimsActing swiftly, the local people in the area jumped into the lake as soon as they came to know about the incident and rushed the victims to a private hospital in Changaramkulam.
Strong currents
The tragedy occurred near the Kadukkuzhi paddy cluster, located adjacent to the deepest area of the Naranipuzha, which overlapped the vast Kol wetlands of Ponnani. The bund, which was broken a couple of days ago, is at the meeting point of Naranippuzha and Nooradi Thodu.
The bund was constructed to store water runs in from the paddy clusters to cater to the agricultural needs of the villages in the locality.
The ill-fated wooden boat was used for fishing. The cause of the incident is suspected to be the strong currents in the river due to the broken bund.
As the accident occurred in an isolated spot in the middle of the river, the children could not swim to safety. It was the local fishermen who first jumped into the river to save the victims. According to local people, inadequate number of boats delayed the rescue operations.
As the incident occurred in the deepest area of the river, the fire and rescue services personnel could not do much to save the victims. The narrow road leading to the river mouth too hampered the rescue efforts. The local people had to walk about 300 meters carrying the victims on their shoulders to take them to the spot where ambulances were kept ready.
Inadequate tools
The local people actively took part in the rescue operation along with fire and rescue service personnel. By the time the fire and rescue services unit from Ponnani reached the spot, the locals had fished out five bodies.
With no modern equipment at their disposal for underwater search and rescue operations, the rescue team had to put in great efforts to recover the remaining body. The only weapons in the armory of the unit were scuba diving equipment and a single diving set.
Though the local people have been demanding the authorities to procure rubber dinghies to handle emergency situations in one of the most risk-prone areas of the district, their repeated reminders have so far fallen on deaf ears.
Absence of modern equipment has been crippling the efficacy of the fire and rescue services unit in Ponnani, it is alleged.
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