The boat tragedy at Tanur in Malappuram which claimed 22 lives has once again brought the spotlight back on the State water transport sector.
According to the statistics available with the Kerala Maritime Board (KMB), which acts as the nodal agency for all maritime-related activities in the State, including issuing license for boats operated in Kerala, the State has around 3,513 ‘registered’ passenger boats. However, no statistics are available with the agency with regard to the number of annual passenger footfalls in the State water transport sector.