2 Kerala Tourists Drown After Slipping Into Arunachal’s Sela Lake; Incident Caught On Cam

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Two tourists from Kerala drowned in frozen Sela Lake in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district on Friday, police said. The body of one tourist has been recovered, while search operations are ongoing for the second.

Superintendent of Police DW Thongon identified the deceased as Dinu, 26, while Mahadev, 24, remains missing. Both were part of a seven-member tourist group that had travelled to Tawang via Guwahati.

The incident occurred in the afternoon when a member of the group slipped into the frozen lake and began to drown. Dinu and Mahadev entered the icy water in an attempt to rescue him. While the third tourist managed to exit the lake safely, Dinu and Mahadev were swept under the ice, police told PTI.

STORY | Two Kerala tourists drown after slipping into frozen Sela Lake in Arunachal Pradesh

Two tourists from Kerala drowned in the Sela Lake in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district on Friday, police said. The body of one of them was recovered, while a search was underway to… pic.twitter.com/8jBhxu8NRH

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 16, 2026

The administration received information about the incident around 3 pm, prompting a joint rescue operation involving district police, central forces, and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). 

Despite challenging weather conditions and low visibility, authorities recovered one body. The search for the missing tourist was suspended due to darkness and harsh conditions and is scheduled to resume Saturday morning, PTI reported.

The recovered body has been taken to Jang Community Health Centre, where a post-mortem examination is scheduled for Saturday.

Thongon said warning signs have been installed at Sela Lake and other tourist spots, advising visitors not to walk on frozen water bodies. The district administration had also issued a cautionary advisory in December, highlighting the dangers of unstable ice during winter.

Sela Lake, located at an altitude of over 13,000 feet, is a popular tourist destination but poses significant risks in winter due to extreme cold and fragile ice cover, officials noted.