Date:08/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/08/stories/2007120856320100.htm

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2 A.P. pilgrims die at Sabarimala

Staff Reporter

Were among 5 who died of heart attack

PATHANAMTHITTA: Two pilgrims among five who died of heart attack at Sabarimala on Friday were from Andhra Pradesh. Four of them were identified and their bodies sent to their native place with the help of Ayyappa Seva Sanghom volunteers.

The body of a pilgrim, aged between 45 and 50 years, is yet to be identified.

The four dead persons were identified as T.R. Kunjan, 53, of Kolencherry in Ernakulam district; Venkateswara Rao, 62, of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh; Naidu, 28, of Vijayanagar in Andhra Pradesh; and Dineshan, 45, of Deepa Bhavan of Kollam district. Volunteers of the Ayyappa Seva Sanghom, led by Guruswami Thanchavur Damodaran, rushed all the patients to hospitals at the Sannidhanam, Neelimala and Pampa.

The Sanghom volunteers took a pilgrim who had fainted while climbing the Neelimala hill to the Ayyappa Medical Centre run by the Amritha Institute of Medical Sciences at Pampa.

But, the patient breathed his last on the way to the hospital. The unidentified body was sent to the mortuary at the General Hospital at Pathanamthitta.

There was heavy rush of pilgrims to the Ayyappa temple. The queue for holy darshan extended up to 3 km from the Sannidhanam and the one-way system from Marakkoottom continued on Friday. The pilgrims had to wait for long hours for the holy darshan, Neyabhishekom and before the prasadom counters to buy ‘aravana’ and ‘appam.’