By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram

At least six people, including two women and two children, were drowned as a passenger boat capsized yesterday in the Kerala port city of Kochi. The accident took place at 1.45 pm.
The boat inducted into service 35 years back by the city administration split into two after being hit by a speeding fishing boat 100m off Fort Kochi boat jetty.
The passenger vessel owned by the Cochin Port Trust was ferrying between Vypeen and Fort Kochi, off mainland Ernakulam, frequented by tourists.
“There were some 30 passengers on board. At least six bodies have been fished out by the rescue workers while two are still missing,” Ernakulam District Panchayat president Eldose Kunnappilly said.
“Others have been admitted to the Government Taluk Hospital in Fort Kochi. Two more are feared dead. The search operations are continuing”.
The foreign tourists who were waiting at the jetty immediately jumped into the lake and started rescue operations, soon to be joined by local people.
There were no tourists on board.
Police identified the dead as Zainaba of Azheekal, Vypeen, Volga and Joseph of Amaravati, Fort Cochin, Sudheer, Puthiya Road, Mahajanavadi, Mattancherry, Ayyappan of Kalamukku, Sindhu of Puthenthodu.
Doctors said diesel spill from the fishing boat also turned fatal for some.
Four among 22 people admitted to the hospital continue to be in extremely critical conditions. Others are out of danger. The boat jetty authorities said they had issued 35 tickets. Navy and local divers were continuing searches while filing this report. Coastguard and Marine police also took part in the rescue operations.
The mishap occurred near the shipping channel to Cochin port.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has left for the port city here in the evening.
The last boat tragedy in the state was reported in Kerala six years back when a tourist boat sank in the Thekkady lake on September 30, 2009, in which 45 people died.