Kaduthuruthi, Kottayam: The bodies of two people, who had gone missing in the Kottayam-Vaikom canal where a boat carrying the crew of Mathrubhumi News channel capsized on Monday, were found on Tuesday.
Two people had gone missing after the accident, while three were rescued and hospitalised.
The body of channel's Thalayaolaparambu regional correspondent K K Saji, 47, was fished out around 10 pm, while the body of Bipin Babu, 27, of Kochuramuriyil, Kozhimala, Iraviperoor, was found by 7 pm. Though local people, fire and rescue team and Scuba divers searched for the duo until 8 pm on Monday, they could not be found.
The body of Saji was shifted to Kottayam Medical College Hospital for postmortem examination.
Kottayam correspondent K B Sreedharan, 28; cameraman of Tiruvalla bureau Abhilash S Nair, 26; and K P Abhilash, 40, of Abhilash Bhavan, Mundar were rescued by the local people soon after the incident. Abhilash, who was rowing the boat, has been admitted to the hospital at Muttuchira for observation. Sreedharan, who is under observation at HGM Hospital, Muttuchira, said the boat developed a leak on their return trip from Mundar.
The accident occurred when the team was returning after covering flood-related issues at Mundar around 1 pm. Though all the five tried to save themselves by holding on to the boat, both Saji and Bipin lost the grip before local people could rescue them. The channel crew had gone to Mundar, an area surrounded by water and 7 km away from Ezhumanthuruth, in two motorised country boats.
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