THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Jineesh Jeron, the young fisherman from Poonthura who had plucked several people from the jaws of death during the devastating flood at Chengannur, was laid to rest at St Thomas Church near Poonthura on Sunday morning. Jineesh’s body was brought from a private hospital in Neyyattinkara to the rented house where his family was living after their house was destroyed in sea erosion, by Saturday evening.
The 24-year-old, who was instrumental in saving dozens of lives in Chengannur and nearby areas which were worst hit by the flood, passed away on Saturday after meeting with a road accident in Tamil Nadu on Friday. Jineesh along with his friend Jagan were on their way to Chinnathurai to find a job in trawling vessels when the disaster struck. When they had crossed the Kerala- Tamil Nadu border and passed Pazhaya Uchakkada, their bike skidded off the road. Jineesh fell on to the road and was run over by a lorry coming from the opposite direction. As he had sustained heavy injuries to his hip, the locals had to wait for more than 30 minutes for the ambulance and shift him to a private hospital in Neyyattinkara.
Though he was subjected to surgery, his condition deteriorated and he breathed his last by Saturday early morning. As he had a hand-to-mouth existence and was the lone breadwinner of the family, they couldn’t arrange the hospital expenses that came to the tune of `1.5 lakh. However, the hospital management came to know about Jineesh’s good samaritan acts during the flood and waived off the full expenses. When the body was brought to the house, hundreds thronged the coastal hamlet to have a final glimpse of the fallen hero, whose daredevilry helped the local fishermen group ‘Coastal Warriors’ mount a challenging rescue operations in the choppy waters of Chengannur. Among those who came to bid adieu to Jineesh was Chengannur MLA Saji Cherian, who almost wept while mentioning the yeoman service of the youngster.
Several people from Chengannur, whom Jineesh and his friends had rescued, also came to pay their homage. Ministers Mercykutty Amma, Kadakampally Surendran, local MP Shashi Tharoor and MLA V S Sivakumar also paid their obeisance. “Thoughts with Jineesh Jeron’s family and friends. RIP, a true hero,” Tharoor later wrote in his twitter handle. Jineesh is survived by father Jeron, mother Selvi and two brothers. A Plus-II drop out, Jineesh discontinued studies to support the family and ventured into fishing. Meanwhile, he had also gone abroad to work, but had to return soon and that caused him a loss of more than Rs 2 lakh.