Tragic end for newly-married Kerala couple in bus crash

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala capital was saddened on Friday after details emerged that two of the deceased in the bus crash near Nagercoil in south Tamil Nadu were a newly-married couple from the state, who had met with the fatal accident just six days after their wedding on January 2.

The couple who died on the sixth day of their wedding were identified as Vinod (30), son of Lawrence and Leela of Valiathope in the outskirts of the city, and his wife Ancy (26), daughter of Bastin and Mary, also living near the state capital.

The tragedy happened on their way back home after a pilgrimage to the Velankanni Shrine in Tamil Nadu. It was also their first long-distance journey after their church wedding a week earlier.

Vinod was a mechanical engineer based initially in Kuwait. Local media reported he had moved to Dubai two years ago.

The couple left Thiruvananthapuram on January 5, and visited the Velankanni Shrine the following day. The day after that, the couple took a night bus back to Thiruvananthapuram, which met with the accident in the early hours of Friday. The bus had hit the road divider, apparently after the driver fell asleep at the wheel.

The incident occurred at Valliyoor near Nagercoil, on the Nagercoil-Tirunelveli highway, about 80km from Thiruvananthapuram.

Initial reports had placed the death toll at 10, but the number was revised to nine. Ancy’s body was identified early, but it took a while for Vinod’s body to be identified because it was badly crushed. The identification was finally done from the inscription of Ancy’s name on his wedding ring, exchanged only six days ago.

On Friday evening, the funeral of the couple was held at the Fatima Matha Church at Valiyathura, the same church where only six days earlier the two had become man and wife in the presence of family members amidst much joy and celebration.

Besides the couple and seven others who died in the accident, over two dozen people were injured and are being treated at different hospitals.