2 water metro boats collide in Kochi, passengers safe

Two water metro boats collided in Kerala’s Kochi while crossing each other near the Fort Kochi terminal, causing the on-board alarms and security systems to go off.
The passengers were evacuated without any injuries by the authorities.
The collision happened when one boat arriving from the High Court collided with another one, departing towards the same station.
After the incident, three bloggers, who were on one of the boats, created a ruckus and wanted to enter the restricted area of the boat control cabin, but were stopped by onboard officials, the Kochi Water Metro Limited (KWML) said in a statement.
A probe has been ordered by the authorities to ascertain the reasons behind the incident, the statement added.
In May 2023, a Kochi water metro boat remained stuck in the backwaters during its journey from Kakkanad to Vyttila after developing a technical snag.
The boat remained immobile for some minutes due to a delay in switching from the electric mode to the diesel engine mode.
“Usually in hybrid technology, the functioning of the engine can be switched from electric mode to diesel mode within seconds,” the Kochi Water Metro Rail authorities said in a statement.
In April 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of Kochi Water Metro services.
The Kerala government and a German company, KfW, funded the development of the Kerala Water Metro project, which consists of 38 terminals and 78 electric boats.