A four-year-old boy was killed after an uprooted tree fell on a scooter on which he was travelling with his grandparents near SN School at North Paravur on Saturday around 2 p.m.
The deceased was identified as Anupam Krishna, the lone child of a couple from Puthenvelikkara. The grandfather, Pradeep, 50, who was riding the scooter sustained serious injuries, while his wife Rekha, 45, riding pillion, was also injured. Pradeep has serious injuries to his neck and abdomen, besides a fracture on his shoulder.
The boy had been staying with his grandparents, and the tragedy struck when he was being taken back to his home. The tree got uprooted all of a sudden and fell on the scooter.
The boy was rushed to a private hospital at Paravur where he succumbed to his injuries shortly. The body will be handed over to relatives after post-mortem on Sunday. The boy’s father Sijeesh is a welder and mother, a contract staff with an agency at the Kochi airport.
The tree, along the busy Pullamkulam PWD road, had no outward signs of weakening, and hence no one had lodged a complaint asking for its axing. However, it is learnt that waste used to be set afire by its side. The incident has raised demands for examining trees to identify vulnerable ones to avert similar accidents in the future.
