Two boats gutted in cooking gas leak

 Two houseboats at the Finishing Point in Alappuzha caught fire due to suspected cooking gas leak on Wednesday night claiming the life of a youth.

 Alappuzha North Circle Inspector S Ajaynath said the forensic expert from Ernakulam, Sherin Peter, collected evidence from the spot on Thursday.

 “The reason for the fire can be ascertained only after getting the forensic report,” he said.

 The CI added that preliminary investgations pointed to cooking gas leak.

 The police said that the other workers who were on the boats escaped unhurt.

 However, the presence of Sherin was identified only in the morning after detailed search as he had joined for duty only on Wednesday.

 The Fire and Rescue Services personnel were unaware of anyone’s presence in the boats.

 So they returned after dousing the fire.

 In the morning, some others identified the body.

 Nagaraja Hariharan, the owner of the ill-fated boat ‘Kerala Trails’, said that the boat had been conducting service in Alappuzha for the past six years.

 All security measures prescribed by the Port Department were installed in the boat.

 “The boat has licence and full insurance,” he added