Tiruchendur: At least nine people were drowned and ten others rescued and admitted to hospital, when the fishing boat in which they went for a joy ride, capsized in the sea off Manappadu near Tiruchendur in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu this evening.
District Collector M Ravikumar, who visited the spot, said all the victims were tourists, who had hired the fibre glass fishing boat for a fun ride resulting in the tragedy. He said 19 people were rescued and taken to hospitals, where nine of them were declared brought dead. Ten others rescued were admitted to Tiruchendur and Tirunelveli government hospitals and at a private hospital. The deceased included three children, five women and a man.
They were identified as A Sundareshwaran (7), V Surendran (10), S Aakash (9), women J Muthulakhsmi, A Usharani, S Murugeshwari, K Suganya and G Muthulakhsmi and the
man M Jeyaraman (42)., police said. Except Suganya, who hailed from Trichy, all the victims were from Azhagammanpuram, Padukapathu village near Udankudi
in Tuticorin district.
He said the overcrowded boat capsized within a furlong distance into the sea after it left the shore. Soon fishermen and locals, jumped into the sea and saved ten people.
This is the second major boat capsize incident in Tamil Nadu after a similar incident at Pulicat on December 25, 2011 that claimed lives of 22 people, when Christmas day joy ride turned
tragic. (UNI)