’He doesn’t know his brother is dead’

Says friend of a Sabrimala stampede survivor, who lost his younger brother in the tragedy

'He doesn't know his brother is dead'

Tragic: Relatives console Srinivas's wife who broke down after his body was brought to the city

Says friend of a Sabrimala stampede survivor, who lost his younger brother in the tragedy

The control room set up by the police is getting hundreds of calls from families and friends of the pilgrims who had gone to Sabarimala on the occasion of Makara Jyothi on Sankranti. Police said 30 bodies that belong to Karnataka have been identified and dispatched to their respective addresses. Some of the victims that have been identified are Manjunath (32) from Garudacharpalya, S Srinivas (33) from Parakash Nagar and Nagarjun (22) of Kaveripura.

Srinivas was a lawyer, working in a private bank. He had gone to Sabarimala with his elder brother Raghavendra Shetty (36) on January 12. Raghavendra, who was injured in the stampede, has recovered now and is admitted at Kottayam Medical College. He is still unaware of his brother's death.

'They were close'
"He is repeatedly calling and inquiring about Srinivas but we have not informed him about his death yet. He has been asking to hand over the phone to his brother, but we have been giving him some excuse or the other.

Raghavendra loves Srinivas very muchu00a0-- Srinivas used to visit his brother's medical store every day after work, where he was offered chocolates," said Kiran, a friend.

Eyewitnesses Shrikanth Maledavar, Bheemashi Kallappa M and his friends from Gokak who had gone to Sabarimala say that a lot of people died because of confusion and panic. "A jeep was broken down and people started pushing it. But it went out of control and ran over 6 people who died on the spot. The road was narrow but there were lakhs of pilgrims walking through the way. Once the accident took place people started running on either side of the road, and ran into the forest."

Total havoc
The other reason for the stampede is the wild elephants. "After they ran in the forest, they spotted a herd of elephants and panicked, and turned around, creating more panic," he added.

There was another accident where a boy of around 8 slipped and fell onto a slope. Curious pilgrims started looking down the slope, but since the roadside was not barricaded, people started falling down the slope themselves. "Many pilgrims slipped down. We don't know exactly how many were injured or dead," said Bheemashi.

The tragedy occured last Friday when a jeep crashed into homebound pilgrims at Pulmedu in Keralas Idukki district, triggering the stampede. Most of the victims are from Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condoled the death of the pilgrims.u00a0Singh sanctioned a relief of Rs one lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in the stampede and Rs 50,000 to those injured from the Prime Minister's relief fund.

A special team of the National Disaster Response Force is at the spot. Besides, a helpline numberu00a0-- 04869222049u00a0-- has been set up to help the families of the victims.

Head count
Out of 102 killed in stampede 30 pilgrims were from the state. The bodies belonged to Bellary (1), Karwar (1), Raichur (1), Kolar (1), Koppal (1), Bangalore (3), Mysore (3), Bagalkot (1), Anekal (1) have already reached but bodies belonged to Belgaum (11) and Dharwad (6) is on its way. The other dead are from Tamil Nadu (37), Kerala (3), Andhra Pradesh (23) and Srilanka (1).

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels