Students at the Amal Jyothi Engineering College in Kanjirappally, were on a study tour when their bus met with an accident in Chikamaglur in Karnataka. A photo taken hours before the accident.Kanjirappally: For Kuruvila and George, it should have been the chatter and joy of their daughters coming home from the much-awaited study tour on Sunday. There should have been stories pouring in at the dining table about all the fun they had, what they ate, did and saw.
But as fate had it, they are now awaiting the lifeless bodies of their children to come home, while many more parents like them are immersed in prayers for the students critically injured in the tragic accident in Chikmaglur, Karnataka.
Merin Sebastian and Irene Maria George, both third year electronics engineering students at the Amal Jyothi Engineering College in Kanjirappally, were on a study tour when their bus slipped off the road in the heavy rain near the Magadi dam across the Cauvery in Chikmaglur, flipped thrice and crashed into the dam premises. The two young women died in the impact, while their friends survived with injuries.
Along with the inconsolable parents of the two deceased girls, an entire community of students, teachers and well-wishers is in grief and prayers for the 30 other injured students, six of whom are said to be in a serious condition.
A sleepless night of frenzied hunting
Anguished parents spend a sleepless night at the college.
The night was consumed in grief as clueless parents flocked to the college premises, seeking news of their children. The telephones of the Kanjirappally diocese authorities and the college teachers went into non-stop rings and the teachers rushed in to reassure the parents.
The harrowed parents could find little solace as the phones were unreachable due to poor network at the accident site and as many of the survivors, injured and bleeding, had lost their phones in the mayhem.
The group, which was on their way to Coorg from Mysuru, included students from the computer science and MCA departments too. Parents, in tears and panic, camped at the college all night, awaiting more news after they heard two in the group were dead.
Distressed parents and others kept streaming into the college all night, seeking information on their wards.
Parents association representative Shahina and her daughter Shabna are among those under care at a private hospital for injuries. Another student, who broke her leg, has been shifted to the Father Muller Medical College Hospital.
Merin is the daughter of Devasia Kuruvilla, additional sub-inspector at Peerumedu police station. Irene, daughter of P.T. George, is from Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad.
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