Malappuram Tragedy: Chronology of Kerala boat accidents in past 10 decades

Twelve boat tragedies, including the one at Tanur in Malappuram district of Kerala on Sunday, have claimed over 200 lives in the state in the past 10 decades.

Following is the chronology of boat tragedies starting from 1924 to the one on May 7, 2023, that claimed 22 lives:

• 1924: 24 persons drowned when a boat from Kollam to Kottayam sank at Palana. Mahakavi Kumaranasan, one of the triumvirate poets of Kerala, died in the tragedy.
• March 19, 1980: 30 lives were lost when a ferry carrying pilgrims of a local church at Kannamaly in Kochi sank.
• September 25, 1983: 18 persons died in a boat tragedy while they were returning after a church feast in the Vallarpadam area of Ernakulam district.
• July 27, 2002: 29 people died when a heavily loaded A53 boat of the Kerala Water Transport department, which left from Muhamma in Alappuzha, capsized in the Vembanad Lake near Kumarakom in Kottayam district of the state. The deceased included 15 women and a nine-month-old baby, besides several job aspirants who were on their way to Kottayam to appear for a PSC exam.
• August 30, 2004: 7 boat workers drowned off the Kollam coast.
• January 2, 2005: 4 persons, including an Arab, drowned in Vembanad Lake.
• February 20, 2007: A school picnic turned into a tragedy when 14 children and three teachers died when the boat they were riding on took on water due to a leak and overturned at Thattekad near the Periyar river in Ernakulam district of the state. It was later revealed that there were 61 passengers on the boat which had a maximum capacity of six.
• September 30, 2009: 45 tourists died when a double-decker passenger boat, Jalakanyaka, capsized in one of the deepest parts of the Mullaperiyar reservoir. There were over 80 passengers on the boat which had a capacity of 75.
• December 12, 2011: 2 persons died when a boat capsized at Kuthiyathodu in the Alappuzha district of the state.
• January 26, 2013: 4 persons died when a passenger boat capsized in the Punnakkad area of Alappuzha.
• June 11, 2013: Two died when a 'Shikara' capsized in the Punnakkad area of Alappuzha.
• May 7, 2023: 22 people, the majority of them women and children, died when a double-decker recreational boat capsized while on a boat ride near an estuary close to the Thoovaltheeram beach in the Tanur area of Malappuram district.