At least 22 Christmas revellers drowned on Sunday evening as their overcrowded fibre-glass boat capsized in Pulicat Lake in Tiruvallur district. Fibre-glass boats are normally used for fishing.
The police said 13 bodies, including that of seven women and four children, had been recovered from the second-largest brackish water lake, or lagoon, in the country, while three children had been rescued by a local fisherman. The lake on the Coromandel Coast straddles the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border.
Three dead have been identified as Pandian, a hotel-owner in Gummidipoondi, his relative Juliet and Nasreen Banu, wife of owner of the ill-fated boat.
The police said a search was on to retrieve the remaining nine bodies, including that of boat driver Ansari. Sources said more than 23 members of Gummidipoondi hotelier Sundarapandian’s family were on a Christmas pleasure trip on the lake.
They said Pounraj, 12, Janagaraj, 13, and Paul Dinakaran, 10, were rescued by fisherman Elango, but others were not so fortunate.