Kollam: A houseboat carrying foreign tourists caught fire in Panmana near Chavara here on Monday.
The incident happened around 5 pm on the Kollam-Alappuzha National Waterway, as the houseboat reached Panmana Kottarathinkadavu.
There were three German tourists -- Richard, Andreas and Valente -- on the boat, besides two employees. They were to deboard at Kollam and take a taxi to Varkala.
All of them were shifted onto a smaller boat and rescued before the fire gutted the entire houseboat.
By the time they reached the shore, the fire had completely swallowed the houseboat.
It took the joint efforts of Fire and Rescue Services teams from Kollam, Karunagappally, Chavara and KMML to put out the blaze.