Kerala tourism is being affected by houseboat accidents

Kerala state, which is known as 'God's own country' has already been experiencing a drastic reduction in the number of tourists that the state has been receiving recently because of the ongoing Mullaperiyar dam issue. Tourists are not ready to take any risk when there is news of a major part of Kerala state being on the verge of submergence under water due to a possible outbreak of the big and 116 years old Mullaperiyar dam. One of the major districts of Kerala which attracts tourists from all over the world is the Alappuzha district which is also under the threat of extinction due to flooding. Alappuzha districts along with many other places in Kerala is well known for its lush greenery and calm backwaters. Beautifully designed houseboats are a very common sight in these areas.

Another recent incident has brought the tourism in Kerala further down. Ever since the new year of 2012 has begun, the houseboats in Alappuzha district have been undergoing many problems with frequent fire incidents and other minor accidents. Though none of the accidents have caused any major injury until now, it has still become an alarming situation as the number of cases of such incidents is increasing day by day. In the first week of the new year itself, there was a fire incident reported on one of the houseboats at Punnamada. It was only a minor accident in which no one was hurt or injured. The shocking factor is that the same kind of accident took place again on the next day itself with the boat owners fleeing from the area to escape from getting hurt. They did not even bother to file a complaint with the police probably with the fear of being questioned about the reasons for the fire incident. Each and every houseboat has a kitchen in which LPG cooking gas is used to make food within the boat itself. These cooking gases could cause a high threat if they are not used properly and kept in a safe manner. A slight carelessness by the cook or other crew of the boat could end up in a messy situation. Though every houseboat has a fire extinguisher fixed within, they are of no use since no person inside the boat has a knowledge about how it should be used. The extinguishers have been installed only in order to get the license from the Fire and Rescue department. Such ignorance should be tackled properly with enough training given to the staff about its usage.

Unfortunately another similar fire incident took place again about a week back resulting in the injury of two foreign ladies who had come for touring in the state. Both the young ladies who hail from Canada knew swimming because of which they jumped into the water and were later saved by the staff of the boat. Water pump had to be used in order to put off the flames from the fire. The accident took place very late in the night because of which it took time to rescue the passengers from the boat. A few days after this fire incident, another accident took place in the same area with a slight difference being that this time there was no fire but instead two boats collided into each other though none of the passengers were hurt. Such a continuous row of accidents has alarmed the other tourists who have already booked for their houseboats cruises in the near future. Many phone calls are being received by the boat owners asking about the safety of continuing the booked cruises. Although the boat owners are trying to convince the tourists that there would not be any danger, they have already realised that these recent accidents are definitely going to affect their long-term business.

The president of the All Kerala Houseboat Owner's Association, Mr Jacob Samuel has asked for a tie up with the Fire and Rescue department of Kerala in order to train the houseboat staff and crew as to how a fire incident has to be handled. In a state where there are more than thousand houseboats which operate on a daily basis, let us hope that these minor accidents are forgiven and forgotten soon so that the state's tourism sector is not affected anymore. For this purpose, the owners and the staff of the houseboat will have to take utmost care that such accidents are not repeated anymore and if in case bad luck strikes, the situation should be handled in a good and efficient manner so that the tourists will always feel safe in our land.