Pathanamthitta: The floods in the low-lying Kuttanad region have heaped misery and hardship upon people. The body of an old man was cremated on the road after his house and compound got flooded as rivers in the region overflowed following the intense rains in the last few days.
The funeral took place on Ayyanaveli road in Thiruvalla around noon on Sunday.
A temporary funeral pyre was set for P C Kunjumon (72) on the road after he died while undergoing treatment at a hospital. He was rushed to the hospital after experiencing breathing difficulties.
Before the funeral, his body too was kept on the road for the public to pay homage.
Kunjumon's residence is at the Chakkulathukavu Colony at Vengal, Peringara, about 4 kilometres from Thiruvalla town in Pathanamthitta district. The colony is close to a vast swathe of paddy fields locally known as the Vengal Padasekharam.
Vengal and nearby areas have been completely flooded for the last few days.
Kunjumon was rushed to a private medical college hospital in Thiruvalla on Thursday morning after he complained of breathlessness. He died during treatment on Friday morning.
As there was no other way to bury the body, the relatives decided to cremate the body on the approach road of a bridge, half a kilometre away from the house. This is the only high-rise area near Kunjumon's residence.
