22 years of Kumarakom boat accident - remembering 29 lives & tragedy caused by 'human error'

Saturday marks the 22nd anniversary of one of the most tragic boat accidents in Kerala's history. A-53, the boat owned by Kerala State Water Transport Department (SWTD), sank near Kumarakom on July 27, 2002, merely 25 minutes after it set out from Muhamma jetty at 5.35 am. Twenty nine passengers lost their lives. The tragedy was indescribable for some of the families who lost more than one member in the accident, like CK Vijayan a retired nursing assistant. He lost his wife Subhadra, his daughter Soumya and 72-day-old grandson Arunjith in the accident.

A probe by Justice (rtd) K Narayana Kurup commission would later remark in the opening lines of the report: "Normally accidents are unbelievable. In the instant case on the facts and circumstances brought on record - the condition of the vessel, its shoddy maintenance, absence of navigational aids, lack of demarcation and upkeep of the channel, overloading, negligent conduct of the crew - it is just the opposite and the inevitable has happened."

An unusual bustle was witnessed during the wee hours of the fateful day. The first trip in the morning from Muhamma to Kumarakom normally would have hardly 100 passengers. On that day around 300 passengers were waiting at the jetty to board the ill-fated boat.

Built in 1989, it had a capacity of 101 passengers. The unusual crowd at the jetty was due to a PSC exam scheduled in Kottayam at 10 am. Among the passengers were many aspirants who wanted to clear an exam for a last-grade government job. When the trip began, the vessel had more than 250 passengers.

Sajith, one of the survivors emphatically told the commission that there were 300 passengers on the boat. He was accompanying his sister for the exam. His sister, her 3-month-old child and his mother died in the mishap. He later recounted that he heard a grating sound from the bottom which could be attributed to the boat hitting the bottom of the lake and then ploughing and losing stability. Thomas Isaac who was then Mararikulam MLA told the commission that the boat capsized as a result of poor or no repairs. Overload and leakage were the other main factors which caused the accident. Evidence suggested that there was ingress of water into the boat, it was overloaded and its propeller had hit some object before capsizing.

P K Devanandan, the boatmaster in his statement to the probe commission said that the boat was full even at the very beginning and passengers were not willing to disembark. He was even manhandled by a passenger. The passengers readied themselves to get off as the boat was about to reach Kumarakom. Suddenly, it started rolling from one side to another 3-4 times and capsized.

It was later revealed that the station master was intimated about the PSC test on July 27 and he also made a note of it in the crew schedule register in red ink which read ''test''. If only he had asked the crew of last day's trip to stay back, two trips could have been operated on July 27 - A-84 at 5.30 am followed by A-53 at 5.45 am. It was not to be. The words of P Narayanan then Vaikom MLA became tragically prophetic. He had repeatedly raised safety concerns about the boat in the assembly and other forums. When nothing came of it, he administered a warning to the officials saying that in the event of the vessel meeting with any disaster, they would be charged with manslaughter.

The commission enlisted as many as 11 possible causes of accident - one of them read - 'Human error and dereliction of duty by crew'. The boat had developed leaks at more than one place in the hull. The efforts to pump out water from the engine room were not successful. The water spread throughout the boat. As the level of water rose, the boat lost buoyancy and stability. There was a noise. The Serang sensed danger and rang three bells to step up the speed so that Kumarakom jetty could be reached as soon as possible. The engine was set at maximum speed, and the boat rolled. The commission noted that in panic, the Serang may have put the wheel unknowingly 'hard over' (to move all the way in one direction). The vessel turned over to the port side and capsized, the report concluded.