All the Islands in Kollam are situated in Ashtamudi Lake. There are so many Islands in Ashtamudi Lake. Munroe Island and Chavara Thekkumbhagom are the most important among these islands. Islands are the eye-catching factors as well as the beauty of Lake Ashtamudi. Most of these islands are potential tourism spots in the state. Even Indian Railways also planning to develop one of the islands in Kollam, Pallanthurthi, for a tourism project.There are big as well as small islands which are inhabited and uninhabited by human beings.
Pezhumthuruth is well known for its festival in pezhumthuruth temple. Elephants arrive at this temple though the lake. They swim through the ashtamudy lake to reach the above-mentioned temple. A lot of foreigners used to visit this temple at the time of festival.
pezhumthuruth is also known for PERUMON train tragedy. the bridge between pezhumthuruth and perumon is called perumon bridge. In 1988 July 8. a train called Island express got accident at this bridge. Almost 100 People died in this accident. most of the people were saved by the local people present in perumon as well as pezhumthuruth. The brave attitude of the people there reduced the death count to 105 or else whole of the passengers would have been dead.
In the Peruman railway accident, the (Train No:26) Bangalore - Thiruvananthapuram Central Island Express train derailed on the Peruman bridge over Ashtamudi Lake, near Perinadu, Kollam, Kerala, India and fell into the lake, killing 105 people on 8 July 1988.The accident occurred at Peruman bridge over Ashtamudi Lake on 8 July 1988 at around 13:15 Hrs. Ten bogie carriages of the Train Number:26 Island Express, travelling from Bangalore to Thiruvananthapuram Central, derailed and fell into the lake. Of the 14 coaches, only the engine, the parcel van and a second class compartment had crossed the bridge when the derailment occurred. Two of the nine coaches that fell into the water turned upside down.The rescue operations was started immediately by the local people of Perumon and Munrothuruthu who were residing near the bridge. The injured were rushed to Kollam's district hospital and nearby private clinics. Realising the scale of the tragedy, three helicopters and over 100 navy divers were also pressed into service from Cochin, 140 km away. Union Minister of State for Railways Madhavrao Scindia, accompanied by Railway Board members, flew down in a chartered plane to supervise the rescue operations. Scindia announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 1 lakh(100,000) each to relatives of each of the dead.105 people lost their lives and around 200 people were injured.The exact cause of the accident is still unknown.[4]
Tornado
A first inquiry conducted by the Commissioner for Railway Safety attributed the cause of train accident to a tornado. This finding has been widely disputed by the general public.
As per P. Venugopal, The Hindu newspaper's correspondent for Alappuzha district then:
“We had no reporter for Kollam at that time and I was supposed to cover Kollam district also. The accident happened around 1.15 p.m. I remember I got a phone call from a friend in Malayala Manorama around 1.45 p.m. saying a big tragedy has occurred at Perumon. Those days there was no mobile phone. It was sheer luck to get the information so fast. I had an old ambassador car. I remember driving at 80s and 90s and reaching the spot by 3.30. I remember vividly everything that I saw and did over the next three days camping in Kollam to cover the tragedy, but if I write all that it is going to take a lot of space in the comment column here.
Months later, the Chief Railway Safety Commissioner called me also for the inquiry. I was asked to bring with me the notes I had scribbled on those days, talking to witnesses etc. Suryanarayana (the Chief Safety Commissioner), interviewed me for nearly one hour during his sitting in TVM. After his finding was published, I realised he had been, all through the questioning, trying to get from me depositions to strengthen his pre-decided...
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