After family, Wayanad landslide survivor Sruthi loses fiance Jenson to tragic accident
Wayanad (Kerala), Sep 12: People of Kerala bid an emotional farewell on Thursday to a 27-year-old man, who had selflessly stood by his fiancee after she lost her entire family in devastating landslides, as his body was brought to his village, a day after he succumbed to injuries sustained in an accident two days earlier.
Before being taken to his village near Ambalavayal and later to the cemetery of Nithya Sahaya Matha Church, Jenson's body was brought to the ICU of a hospital where his fiancee, Shruti, is being treated for injuries sustained in the same accident.
Hundreds of people gathered to pay their last respects and take one final look at Jenson as his body was brought to his village, hospital, and church. His burial was completed at around 4.35 pm.
Jenson's death in the accident sent shockwaves through Kerala society, with many, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan, and film stars Mammootty and Fahadh Faasil, recalling his exceptional kindness and compassion towards Shruti, with whom he had been in a relationship for the past 10 years.
His shocking death occurred just as 24-year-old Shruti was barely coming to terms with the loss of her entire family in the recent catastrophic landslides in Wayanad district on July 30.
Netizens recalled Jenson's remarks, made with Shruti by his side weeks after the July 30 landslides in Wayanad, where he said, "The only concern that lingers is that if something happens to me, either today or tomorrow, won't she feel like a complete orphan?"
In a Facebook post, CM Vijayan said the news of Jenson's death - the fiance of Chooralmala native Shruti, who lost her parents, sister, and other loved ones in the recent landslide disaster in Wayanad - is "extremely painful."
"Having lost her family and home in the landslide on July 30, Shruti is now facing another tragedy. No compensation can make up for the losses suffered by those affected by disasters. All we can offer now is our solidarity with Shruti. We share the grief of Shruti and Jenson's families. May Shruti find the strength to overcome these challenges and hardships," Vijayan said.
Satheesan said no words can comfort Shruti.
"May Shruti find the strength to overcome any adversity. Just a call away, the entire nation stands with Shruti, ready to offer any assistance. Farewell, Jenson, with tears and respects," he said in a Facebook post.
Later, in a statement, Satheesan said that after the landslide disaster, he had met Shruti and Jenson when he visited Wayanad.
The Congress leader pledged to provide all necessary support to Shruti, just like she is his own daughter.
"I will bring to the Chief Minister's attention the importance of providing a government job to Shruti," he said.
Actor Mammootty said Jenson's passing causes immense sorrow.
"Shruti's pain... is beyond what can be imagined... May Shruti and Jenson's loved ones receive boundless strength to bear this loss," he wrote on his social media page.
Fahadh Faasil shared a photo of Jenson on his Facebook page and said, "You will be remembered till the end of time my brother".
Tragedy had struck Shruti, an accountant at a hospital in Kozhikode district, on July 30 when her family of nine, including her parents and younger sister were killed in the landslides that struck Chooralmala and Mundakkai villages of Meppadi panchayat.
Her only support during the tragic times was Jenson, with whom she had got engaged on June 2 after a 10-year-long courtship.
On August 29, the couple had visited the Puthumala graveyard where some of her family were buried and reaffirmed their commitment to each other.
Days later, on September 10, Jenson got critically injured when his car collided head-on with a private bus.
Shruti and some other family members of Jenson, who were also travelling in the same car, also got injured in the accident.
When the couple had reaffirmed their commitment to each other, Jenson, who works for a car cleaning company in the district, had said that he promised himself that he would never leave the side of his school-time friend Shruti when she told him about the tragedy that had befallen her family.
The couple, initially set to tie the knot in December with fanfare, were planning to have a simple court-registered marriage in September.
Shruthi lost about Rs 4 lakh in cash and around 15 'sovereigns' of gold along with her newly-built home that was washed away in the landslides that claimed over 200 lives.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
