Kochi: The Kerala High Court termed as "shocking" and "haunting" the boat accident at Tanur area of Malappuram district reported on Sunday evening wherein 22 lives, including 15 children, were lost. It also initiated a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on its own to find out why the authorities allowed the vessel to operate by allegedly flouting rules.
The bench comprising Justices Devan Ramachandran and Shoba Annamma Eapen said their "hearts were bleeding" and they "underwent sleepless nights" after they witnessed the lifeless bodies of the children. The bench said that the accident was a result of "the deadly cocktail of callousness, greed and official apathy."
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It also said it was using its Constitutional powers and was initiating the petition on its own to ensure that such incidents do not recur ever again in the future. The bench observed that such boat tragedies had been in vogue in the state and the frequency had a "frightening regularity" since 1924 when Kerala lost Mahakavi Kumaranasan. One of the triumvirate poets of Kerala died after the boat he was on to Kottayam from Kollam sank at Palana.
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Atlantic, a tourist boat, which was built out of repurposing a fishing boat, capsized near an estuary in the vicinity of the Thooval Theeram beach in Tanur area around 7 pm on Sunday. Police officials said that at least 15 of the deceased 22 were minors. The dead included as young as eight months and there were 37 passengers were onboard the ill-fated boat.
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