Four TN tourists drown as boat capsizes

ALAPPUZHA: In a tragic incident, four tourists from Tamil Nadu, including two women and two girls, drowned and two seriously injured when a passenger boat capsized at Punnamada lake in the backwater city on Saturday.

The dead were identified as Rohini (37), Susmitha (12), both hailing from Chennai and Subishini (26) and her daughter Ilakhiya (4), hailing from Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, police said.

The accident occurred when the ill-fated passenger boat, used to ferry tourists to house boats anchored in the backwaters, capsized because of overloading, the sources said. The accident could also have occurred with the passengers boarding the boat from the same side and tilting it, the sources pointed out. According to the sources, about 60 passengers boarded the boat.