Kerala - Kochi   

Waiting for an accident to happen

Photo:Vipin Chandran

DANGEROUS RIDE: Schoolchildren travelling on the deck of a boat in Kochi backwaters on Friday with little safety features. —

KOCHI: Scores of children in school uniform and none wearing a life jacket were making merry on the deck of a boat in Kochi backwaters with no one to take care of them.

A few adventurous ones in the group were leaning from the deck of the swan shaped boat to catch a glimpse of the waves that splashed the sides of the vessel.

These were the scenes that one could witness at Kochi backwaters on Friday as a court in Ernakulam pronounced its judgement in the Thattekkad boat tragedy.

At Marine Drive, everyone seemed to be blissfully unaware of the lurking threat beneath the placid waters and those in the vessels were enjoying the boat ride which was accompanied by the intermittent showers.

The accident that took place at Thattekkad last year had claimed 18 lives including that of 15 students and three teachers. The makeshift boat that carried the schoolchildren, who were on an excursion, capsized killing children and teachers.

Though the safety aspects of boat passengers had come under come under scrutiny following the accident, the situation has not improved exposing the passengers to the risk.

Life jackets are to not to be worn. But to be neatly packed and stored inside boats fearing that they may be easily soiled. This seems to be the attitude of the boat operators who were canvassing passengers at Marine Drive for a fun trip in the Kochi backwaters.

“We don’t give the life jackets to passengers for wearing. But it will be given in case of an accident,” said an employee of the Tourist Boat Operators Association.

The life jackets, which are made of polyester gets dirty on people wearing it. They are kept safe inside the boats, he said.

The rodents may destroy the jackets that are kept in the open.

Hence, they are neatly packed and stored inside the boat, said another one.

However, all the agents were boasting that their boats had enough number of life buoys which could be made use of in case of an accident.

Four passengers can hang on a buoy for four hours and by that time help would certainly arrive, said one agent.

But what happens if an accident takes place in the shipping channel where the floor of the water body is dredged for bigger vessels to move in and there are strong currents?

“It is the fate at is to be blamed then. No one can prevent such things,” replied the boat crew in a philosophical tone.

As the children on the deck were enjoying the trip, a speedboat zipped past the boat with three men perched on the front of the vessel. The life jackets were missing in this case also though it has been stipulated that people using such vessels should wear them considering the unstable nature of the speedboats.

Luckily, they reached the berth safe.

And a day ended in Kochi backwaters without any accidents.

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