Subject: 'austraLasia' # 235

INDIA: TRAGIC ACCIDENT KILLS SDB AND OTHERS

C.M. Paul

CALCUTTA (UCAN): A jeep carrying a Salesian and a Jesuit priest as well as

a un met with a serious accident at Nalhati (275 kms from Calcutta), in the

district of Birbhum in West Bengal on September 20th, at 8 A.M.

According to Fr.John Plathottam, 40, SDB, an assistant at the Catholic

Ashram at Joypur (250 kms from Calcutta), the religious were travelling

from the Ashram to the town of Krishnanagar, to attend a retreat.

On the highway, he said, about 25 kms from Joypur, the jeep swerved to

avoid a girl who had rushed on to the road and crashed at full speed against

a

truck coming in the opposite direction.

On impact, Fr.Plathottam continued, Sr.Maria Hasda, 35, a nun of the

Congregation of Thresian Carmelites (CTC), and the driver Bishnu Besra, 30,

died on the spot. At the Government Hospital at Rampurhat, the nearest

town, he stated, Fr.George Chittilappilly, 40, SDB, the Parish Priest of

the Catholic Ashram at Joynagar, breathed his last. The Jesuit Fr.Bernard

Murmu, 52, is critically injured and has now been admitted to a nursing home

at

Calcutta.

"It is the most shocking piece of news we have heard in recent times," said

Fr.Francis Alencherry, 49, the Provincial of the Salesian Province at

Calcutta, "in less than a year we have lost two young priests. Last

November, Fr.James Pathiyil also died in an accident."

"There is a deep sense of sadness in the community here," Fr.Plathottam

told UCA News, "people are still trying to come to terms with what has

happened."

Fr.Chittilappilly, he continued, was a very popular priest and had been at

the Ashram for the past seven years.

According to Fr.Robin Gomes, the Assistant Director of Nitika, Don Bosco (a

centre for Catechetical and Media Training Centre), a Memorial Mass will be

held at Nitika at 5 P.M. September 22, conducted by the Salesian Provincial

Fr.Francis Alencherry. It will be attended by all Salesians, he said, as

well as Fr.Chittilappilly's parents.

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