Frequent fires on Kerala houseboats, which lure hundreds of tourists to the state's pristine backwaters, have cast a shadow on their safety.
On Friday night, two Canadian women tourists and four crew members had a miraculous escape from a burning houseboat.
A passenger boat passing through the area happened to sight the burning houseboat moored in R-Block lake, nearly 5km off Alappuzha town.
Tourists Tiffani (27), Louise (27) and the crew jumped into the water and were rescued by crew in the passenger boat. A water pump in the passenger boat was used to douse the flames. It took more than 30 minutes to do so.
The tourists sustained injuries in the melee. A tourism police speed boat reached the accident site, and admitted the tourists to a hospital in Alappuzha.
Police said that the fire originated from the boat's kitchen where LPG cylinders are used.
"It was due to sheer luck that the tourists and crew escaped. It was already 10.30pm and the passenger boat was the last one passing through the area since there is no scheduled boat service till next morning," a police officer said.
It is the third such incident in the span of one week. On January 6, a double-decker houseboat caught fire at Punnamada Lake, the venue of the famous Nehru Trophy Boat Race, in Alappuzha.
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