Kerala Tourists Drown in Arunachal’s Frozen Sela Lake: What Happened in Tawang

Two Kerala Tourists Drown After Slipping into Frozen Sela Lake in Arunachal Pradesh

January 17, 2026
Sreekanth bathalapalli
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Two Kerala Tourists Drown After Slipping into Frozen Sela Lake in Arunachal Pradesh

Itanagar/Tawang, January 17, 2026 – In a tragic incident, two young tourists from Kerala drowned in the frozen Sela Lake located in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district on Friday afternoon, police confirmed.

The victims have been identified as Dinu (26) and Mahadev (24) (names vary slightly across reports as B Prakash and Madhav M in some sources), who were part of a seven-member tourist group from Kerala traveling together in a mini-bus. The group had started their journey from Guwahati and stopped at Sela Lake for sightseeing during their trip to Tawang.

According to Tawang Superintendent of Police (SP) DW Thongon, the incident unfolded around 3 pm when one member of the group accidentally slipped through the fragile ice of the frozen lake and began to drown. Dinu and Mahadev courageously entered the icy water in an attempt to rescue their companion. Tragically, both drowned in the process. The person who initially fell through the ice managed to escape on their own and survived.

A joint rescue operation was immediately launched involving the district police, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and Army personnel. Despite challenging conditions of extreme cold, poor visibility, and harsh weather, the body of one victim (Dinu) was recovered on Friday. The search for the second victim (Mahadev) had to be suspended due to darkness and adverse weather but was set to resume on Saturday morning at 8 am.

The recovered body has been taken to the Jang Community Health Centre, approximately 40 km away, where a post-mortem examination was scheduled for Saturday.

Sela Lake, situated at an altitude of over 13,000 feet (approximately 13,700 feet in some descriptions) near the Sela Pass, is a popular tourist spot known for its scenic beauty. However, during winter, the lake freezes over with thin and unstable ice that cannot support human weight, posing significant risks. Authorities emphasized that clear warning signboards have been installed at Sela Lake and other tourist locations, explicitly advising visitors against walking or venturing onto frozen water bodies.

Additionally, the Tawang district administration had issued a travel advisory in December 2025, cautioning tourists that ice on high-altitude lakes may be fragile and unsafe.

SP Thongon urged all visitors to strictly adhere to safety guidelines and local advisories to prevent such preventable tragedies, highlighting that incidents like this often occur when tourists disregard posted warnings.

This unfortunate event underscores the dangers of winter tourism in high-altitude regions of Arunachal Pradesh, where extreme weather and natural hazards can turn a sightseeing stop into a life-threatening situation.

(Compiled from police statements and reports by Arunachal Times, PTI, and other reliable sources. www.nriglobe.com will continue to monitor updates on the ongoing search and any further developments.)