“If we had gotten a vehicle in time, we could have saved my son’s life,” said Devi, the mother of two young brothers who died when a half-finished house collapsed in Attappady on Saturday.
Adi, 7, and Ajnesh, 4, were playing inside the unfinished building at the Karuvara tribal hamlet near Mukkali when the structure gave way, injuring them fatally. Their six-year-old relative Abhinaya was injured in the accident.
Devi rushed to the spot after hearing the crash and found Adi still alive. “He tried to speak to me,” she said, tears streaming. “If we had gotten him to a hospital in time, his life could have been saved.”
She explained that roadblocks delayed the rescue. Although she called the tribal promoter for transport, no vehicle was available. In the end, the seriously injured children were taken to the hospital on a scooter, and Devi had to wait a long time for an autorickshaw to follow. “No other child should have to suffer like this,” she pleaded.
Devi’s remarks have sparked a political controversy, with the Congress accusing the Integrated Tribal Development Programme (ITDP) of negligence.
Congress leader Shibu Cyriac said that the ITDP had left numerous houses unfinished and that the collapse of one such structure caused the children’s deaths.
The building that fell on the children while they were playing had been erected eight years earlier and had remained unfinished, leaving it exposed to the elements for the entire period.
The Congress claimed that the authorities’ failure to provide timely transport contributed to the tragedy. It pointed out that the tragedy exposed the inadequacy of emergency response.
The children’s bodies were returned to their family after a postmortem. On Sunday, Excise and Local Administration Minister M.B. Rajesh announced that a thorough investigation would be launched into the incident. He said the remaining ITDP houses would be finished promptly.
Published – November 09, 2025 08:31 pm IST
