Bidding adieu to children drowned in Chaliyar

NILAMBUR: The grieving natives of Athikkad bid a tearful adieu to the five children who died in the Chaliyar River on Thursday.Bodies of Ajay, Aleena and Amal were buried at the Little Flower Church, Nilambur, on Friday. Bodies of Jinu Mathew and Jainy Mathew were taken to Wayanad and buried in their native church.“People around Athikkad are shocked. We do not have any words to comfort the grieving parents. It is difficult to accept that the children who used to play around our locality are no more,” Aju P Nair, a native said.It is now clear that the children knew no swimming. The incident happened after two among them went deep into the river after seeing a friend on the other side.Amal, one among the children, was caught in the undercurrent first.Philomina, the mother of three children and aunt of two, rushed to help Amal.  The rest of the children also moved to the place where she was and within seconds all the five children were sunk in the river.There was nobody on the shore when the incident took place. Though people rushed from the opposite side to save the children, they had already sunk deep into the water.