The mother of two tribal children, who tragically passed away after the sunshade of their under-construction residence in Attappady, located in Kerala’s Palakkad district, collapsed, lamented the lack of emergency vehicles, including ambulances, stating that one of her children might have been saved.
The children — Aadi (7) and Ajnesh (4) — lost their lives when the sunshade of their home fell on them while they were playing outside in the Karuvara settlement of Attappady.
Another child sustained serious injuries and is currently receiving treatment.
Both deceased children had to be transported initially on a motorbike to a private clinic and subsequently to the nearest government hospital in Kottathara, where they were pronounced dead upon arrival, after numerous attempts to secure timely transportation or an ambulance proved unsuccessful.
The family spent over an hour transporting the children to the private clinic.
“We lost my younger one immediately. However, the elder one, when extracted from the debris, was still alive and breathing. He was attempting to speak. We made extensive efforts to obtain a vehicle to take him to the hospital, but no vehicle arrived. Had we received a vehicle promptly, we could have saved his life,” Devi, the children’s mother, recounted to local media.
A family relative mentioned that they had contacted the local tribal promoter but were informed that the ambulance would need to come from a considerable distance away in Agali.
“It would take a significant amount of time for the ambulance to reach our settlement, so we opted to take the children on a motorbike,” he stated.
Ravikumar, the local promoter, acknowledged that there was no ambulance available nearby at that time.
“I had notified the ambulance helpline. However, it had to travel from a far location,” the promoter explained.
The tragic deaths of the two children have also highlighted the critical issue of the non-disbursement of funds under the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) for the housing of tribal communities and the poor condition of their homes.
Attappady taluk in Palakkad district is home to some of the largest tribal settlements in Kerala.
