IRIKKUR (Kannur): As the little-known village of Perumannu here sank into deep grief, the nine children of the Sreenarayana Vilasam Aided Lower Primary School crushed to death by a speeding vehicle, were given a tearful farewell by thousands of people waiting on the premises of the school right from the morning on Friday.
As the bodies of the kids were brought in separate ambulances after postmortem at the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital, the roads from Irikkur and Iritty leading to Perumannu were virtually flooded with people, including villagers, school children and women with babies in arms. The flow of people to SV School had begun hours before the bodies were expected to reach there.
Arrangements had been made for the massive gathering of grief-stricken villagers to have a last look at the children on the school ground they had played on till Thursday evening. Wailing children, staff and people waited patiently in long queues, braving the scorching sun, for the ambulances carrying bodies. An array of ministers, including K P Rajendran, Mahtew T Thomas and P K Sreemathi, and Opposition leader Oommen Chandy and other political leaders turned up on the school premises after visiting the houses of the children killed in the mishap.
Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Education Minister M A Baby joined them later.
The children’s bodies were taken to their respective houses after Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan reached the school at about 3 p.m. to pay homage. The flow of people to the school hadn’t stopped even when the bodies were being taken to their houses before burial at the land donated by octogenarian philanthropist Krishna Varier who lives barely a furlong from where the kids’ lives were snuffed out by the killer-vehicle.
Eight children were buried together in a single grave. The body of Ramsana was buried at the Padayamkod masjid, not far from the school. Just as they used to return from school every day, so they made their last journey -- together.
