The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : 500 more bodies extricated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 29, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

500 more bodies extricated

By K. Subramanian

NAGAPATTINAM, DEC. 28. With 500 more bodies extricated in the 24 hours ended this evening, the death toll in the wake of tsunami has touched 2,500 in the coastal district of Nagapattinam. Mass burial of corpses continued for the second day at Velankanni, Nagore and on the Nagapattinam coast. About 1,500 corpses have already been buried.

The police have been entrusted with counting the deaths in every taluk. The official toll figure crossed 2,300 and about 200 bodies lying at various places are yet to be counted.

Official sources said a large number of pilgrims who came to the Velankanni church for Christmas were washed away. Several bodies were lying buried under the sand.

A large number people from Kerala, Karnataka (mostly from Bangalore) and Goa were frantically searching for their relatives.The maximum number of deaths were reported from the coastal hamlets of Keechankuppam, Akkaraipettai, Nambiyar Nagar and Andanapettai, on the Velankanni and Nagore shore.

On the Nagapattinam coast alone, nearly 1,400 bodies were recovered, about 500 in Velankanni, and the remaining in Keevalur, Vedaranyam, Tarangampadi, Mayiladuturai and Sirkazhi taluks.

Victims complain

Meanwhile families of victims sheltered in the relief centres are complaining that their children were suffering from fever and diarrhoea due to unhygienic conditions in the centres.

The people in the coastal areas are still in the grip of fear.

The district administration has arranged for tetanus toxoid injections to all the people free of coast in the Government hospital.

The Nagapattinam coast had started stinking with foul smell from the highly decomposed corpses lying in Nagapattinam and Velankanni coastal belt.

The District Collector, M. Veera Shanmugha Moni, said special medical teams arrived from several parts of the State to prevent epidemic.

Shops remain closed

All shops and establishments, except a few medical shops at Nagapattinam town remained closed for the third consecutive day.

Anti-social elements, under the guise of removing the corpses from the shore, were allegedly removing jewels and other valuables from the bodies of tourists at Velankanni. Most of the telephone lines in Nagapattinam town and suburb were not working for the third day.Residents stage roadroko

Nearly 1000 people staged a road roko condemning the ``lethargic attitude'' of the district administration in not removing the bodies lying on the Nagore coast and also for not making proper arrangement for burial. The protesters dispersed after getting an assurance from the police and revenue officials that immediate attention would be paid on that front.

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