Kerala village mourns as bodies of 6 teachers, 3 others return from Tamil Nadu

A day after a routine leisure trip turned into a devastating road accident, the bodies of seven school staffers and two of their family members, including a child, reached Pang in Malappuram on Saturday (April 18) morning, bringing an entire locality to a standstill.

The accident happened around 5 pm on Friday on the Valparai Ghat Road in Tamil Nadu. The tourist van carrying teachers and their family members lost control at a hairpin bend, overturned and rolled down the slope. There were 13 people in the vehicle; nine of them died, while several were injured and are being treated at hospitals in Pollachi and Coimbatore.

After autopsies in Pollachi, the bodies were brought back to Kerala early Saturday. Ambulances reached Pang in the morning, where large crowds had already gathered. The bodies were kept at Ambalapparamba Higher Secondary School for the public to pay their last respects.

School loses nearly entire staff

The scale of the loss is what has shaken the village the most. Seven staff members, including six teachers from the same government lower primary school, died in the accident. The deceased teachers have been identified as Ajitha (54), the head teacher, Asha (41), Ramla (52), Shakeela (37), Suhara (43), and Majeed (43). The cook of the school, Saajitha (45), also died in the accident.

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Majeed’s wife Rukhiya (39), and Suhara’s son Hisham (12) are the other two who died in the accident.

With this, the school has lost almost its entire staff in a single incident. Only one teacher remains.

Classrooms now stand without the people who ran them every day. For the students, the loss is immediate. These were the teachers who taught them, corrected them, and looked after them like their own children. For parents, they were familiar faces they met every day.

Government promises support

Education Minister V Sivankutty visited the school and met the families. He said, “It’s heart-breaking and rare to lose almost all the staff of a school. the government will do whatever possible for the relatives and friends of the deceased. We will arrange counselling for the students who lost almost all their teachers.”

The government has said it will take steps to ensure the school continues to function, including appointing new teachers and providing counselling for students.

Last message from head teacher

Haznath, a teacher at the school who did not go on the trip, said the news was still hard to accept. “I was also supposed to go with them, but as I am preparing for Hajj pilgrimage, I could not make it. They had shared photos of the trip in our group. Even just before the accident Ajitha had shared a selfie from the van. I can’t think of it anymore.”

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That last message has left colleagues and families shaken. What was just another photo shared during a trip has now become the final memory.

At the school, grief was visible everywhere. Students broke down upon seeing the bodies of their teachers. Many could not even come close. Parents and local residents stood in silence, some in tears, unable to process what had happened.

“All of them were known to us. Majeed Master was visually impaired, which is why his wife always accompanied him. He has five sisters, some of whom are also blind. This tragedy has deeply shocked the entire locality. Asha Teacher, a native of Kolathur, was an activist of the Students’ Federation of India during her college days and was very active in extracurricular activities, as were the other teachers,” said Abdu Rahman PK, a native of Pangu.

Village mourns its loss

Funerals are being held at different places, as the victims belonged to different families in the area. Community members, relatives and officials have come together to support the families.

The injured survivors remain in hospital, and their condition is being monitored.

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While an investigation into the accident is expected, for the people of Pang, the loss has already sunk in. A single evening has changed the life of the entire village.

The school will reopen in the coming days. New teachers will come in. But for the children, the absence will remain.

They had gone on a short trip together. They came back in ambulances.