Kerala: Mosque opens for victims’ autopsies

Kozhikode: Religious and communal differences have been replaced with unity among  the people at the places devastated by floods andlandslides.  

The Muslims of Pothu-kallu near Kavalappara, Malappuram, opened up the prayer hall of the mosque for conducting the post-mortem of the landslide victims while the health department staff were struggling to find a fitting place for the purpose.  

Seven bodies were recovered from the spot on Wednesday and some of them were highly decomposed.

Since the Nilambur taluk hospital, where post-mortems were done earlier, is 45 km away, taking the decayed bodies there posed a huge problem.    

The bodies of the  victims, including Abdurahman,  Antony Chacko, Saras-wathi and Soman, were brought to the  postmortem desk set up in  the prayer hall of the mosque.

“This is a rare show of humanity in these times,” according to Manjeri Medical College attendant Parameswaran.   

Communal amity was evident at other places also.

At Ponkuzhy in Wayanad, Muslim youths joined hands with Hindus to clean up the Sri Seetha Rama  temple which was filled with slush and filth  due to the floods. At  Srikantapuram in Kannur district,  both Muslims and Hindus together cleaned up the Masjid and temple.

During the floods last year, Kerala’s fishermen had emerged the heroes when they rescued thousands of marooned people.