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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