The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Yet another blow to a tsunami-hit family

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 01, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Yet another blow to a tsunami-hit family

Ramya Kannan

The family loses a son under mysterious circumstances

CHENNAI: : It is one blow after another for M. Kanniyammal's family.

Having lost all their belongings in the December 26, 2004 tsunami, the family was about to settle in their home in the Cuddalore port, when Kanniyammal received news that her younger son, Ilayaraja, working as an unskilled labourer in Malaysia, was dead.

Worse, she needed to scrape together Rs.20, 000, if she wanted to bring the body home.

Ilayaraja, 23, applied through agents (whose racket has since been busted) in Cuddalore for an unskilled job in Malaysia, nearly two-and-a-half years ago.

His visa was arranged by WTT Furniture Manufacturing, in Selangor, Malaysia, according to his brother, Selvanidhi. "Only recently did he call us to say that he had not been paid for the last 10 months. Frustrated, he decided to return to India before May 11.

Kanniyammal, who was waiting for her son to come home, received a call on April 24 that he was dead. She finds it difficult to articulate what happened next, the sorrow of a grieving mother choking her. Selvanidhi takes over: "We were told he died after he slipped and fell from the 14th floor. We had to pay Rs.80, 000 for the body to be flown home."

However, Ilayaraja's friend in Malaysia called up later to say he died after he was beaten up for demanding his salary. He said they raised Rs. 60,000 and the family contributed Rs. 20,000.

"Where will we go for Rs. 20,000 now? We have just managed to buy a catamaran from the government relief money," says Selvanidhi. The mother is more enraged, more sorrowful and a tad vengeful.

"They have done something to my son. Please find out the truth and tell me," she says on telephone, before breaking down again.

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