11 from Delhi killed in Kerala boat capsize; two missing

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Eleven people from Delhi,
including three each from two neighbouring families, were
among 39 people killed in a boat capsize in Kerala's Idukki
district, officials said Thursday.

Of them, eight were women and another is a teenaged boy.

Three members each of two families in Paschim Vihar here,
who had gone as part of a 10-member group for the holiday,
were killed in the mishap Wednesday.

Pradeep Jain, an official of a pharmaceutical company,
his wife Sandhya and daughter Shruti died while Shruti's
husband Baladutt and a nine-year-old girl Nidhi survived.

Their neighbours Vimla Jain, Sangeeta Sharma and Partha
Sharma (19) also died, officials said, adding it was Nidhi who
identified the bodies.

Other deceased are Arun Kaur, her daughter and Alka.

Two people are yet to be traced. A woman identified as
wife of Harinder Singh of west Delhi's Janakpuri died in the
incident and Amith, whose wife Saliha was killed here are yet
to be traced.

Thirty nine bodies have so far been recovered after the
boat capsized in Thekkady Lake while 40 were rescued,
officials said. Six bodies are yet to be identified.

Besides the 11 victims from Delhi, nine are from Tamil
Nadu, five from West Bengal, four from Andhra Pradesh, three
from Karnataka and one from Punjab.

Kerala Government officials said that the bodies of
victims belonging to the capital will be flown to the city
soon after the post mortem is over.

"The government is taking all measures to help the
families of the victims in Delhi. The bodies will be flown to
the capital soon after the post mortem and embalming is over,"
a senior official said.

A control room has been set up in Kerala House in Delhi
where people can contact for details. The numbers are
011-23342320/30411500. The Kerala helpline numbers are
09446052361 and 04869222620.

The victim from Punjab has been identified as Rana Gowda.
The deceased who belong to West Bengal are Meena Das, Kalpana
Das, Nirmala Das, Anoopa Bhandari and Deepak Kaur. All are
from Kolkata.

Two of the victims from Andhra Pradesh are minors,
4-year-old Sai Mansi and Devendra Verma (13). The others
are Sunil Kumar and Sneha. Apart from Verma who is from
Guntur, all others are from Hyderabad.

Three victims from Karnataka are Vijaya Sailesh, Soorya
Prakash, and Rajeshekaran.

Those from Tamil Nadu are Aditya, Anusha Devi, Sandhya,
Dharani, Jayaprakash, Rahul, Ilakia, Prakatheswari and Sudha.
PTI SJY
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