Kerala Floods: Teen ends life after rains destroy school certificates

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 20: Heartbroken on finding his class twelve certificates destroyed in the devastation caused by the deadly monsoon in Kerala, a 19-year-old boy, committed suicide, police said on Monday.

With his house fully waterlogged in the downpour, the boy, Kailash, and his parents, hailing from Karanthur in Kozhikode district, had moved to a relief camp three days ago. Kailash had got admission for a course in the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) and had purchased new clothes and set apart some money for higher studies, they said.

As the rains abated for a while, he returned home on Sunday to take a look at the house and was shocked to find his plus two certificates soaked in water and in tatters. A Police officer attached to the Kunnamanagalam station said the boy's death came to light later in the day on Sunday when his parents came to clean up the house as the water receded.

They were shocked to see him hanging, police said. His shattered father, a labourer, had pinned all his hopes on his son as all their belongings had been mostly destroyed in the rains. In the worst affected Chengannur in Alappuzha district, a woman was wailing saying she had lost her Aadhar card, Ration card and all ID proofs.

"All my belongings, my Aadhar and Ration cards and ID proofs are all gone. Only I am alive. My relatives do not even know I exist," she mourned. Heavy rains in Kerala has so far claimed 210 lives and forced over 7.14 lakh people to take shelter in relief camps in the state.

PTI