KANHAGAD: Draped in a blood-stained white dhoti, Narayana Naik sat alone stunned on a hospital bed. Hesitant to even shed a tear. Occasionally, he would shake his head in disbelief.
His 13-year-old son Sreyas was among the seven persons killed in the bus accident at Pariyaram, 2 kms from Panathur in Panathady panchayat.
There were 65 wedding guests onboard, who were travelling from Puttur in Karnataka to Karike panchayat, also in Karnataka, which is accessible only via Panathur in Kerala.
Sreyas died on the spot. Naik and the body of Sreyas were brought to the District Hospital in Kanhangad, where they were separated -- Naik admitted to the Emergency Ward and Sreyas body shifted to the morgue.
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The district administration found the Naik's Tulu language too high a barrier to cross and provide him with a counselor in his moment of grief.
"The biggest challenge we are facing is the language. That's the reason why we are shifting the patients to Wenlock District Hospital in Mangaluru, where the Dakshina Kannada administration has made arrangements to receive them," said Kasaragod collector D Sajith Babu.
Around 4.30 pm, the Kasaragod district administration ran a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus to take all the injured, including Naik, to Mangaluru.
Naik said his son Shreyas and a few other children were sitting in the front on the long seat opposite the driver. He was sitting in the middle. When the bus crashed into a house, two women in front of him ended up under the seat. "Their necks were jammed under a rod," he said.
He pulled the seat and rescued the women. When he rushed to the front of the bus, he found Shreyas dead.
The bricks from the house had collapsed into the front of the bus. The driver was paralysed waist down.
Rajesh (45) died on the spot.
His son Aadarsh, a 12-year-old deaf and mute boy died as soon as he was brought to the District Hospital, 40km away. Ravichandran (40) and his wife Seshamma (39) also passed away on the spot.
Mamatha (31) said she felt lucky. She survived with a fracture on her left arm. Her son Yashassu (6) is smiling beside her. He too has an arm sling.
Mamatha said the bus had around 14 children, most of them were in the front. "My son and I were on the back row," she said.
As soon as the accident happened, she said residents took them in a private car to the Taluk Hospital. They were later shifted to the District Hospital.