A 73-year-old Dominican nun and a 36-year-old diocesan priest died in tragic accidents at two different places in India in the past days.
Father Melvin Abraham Pallithazhathu of Bijnor diocese died on January 19 when his vehicle fell into a gorge in Joshimath in the Chamoli district of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.
Sister Jussina Pulikkottle died on January 16 when she fell on railway tracks near Bengaluru, southern India.
Father Pallithazhathu, who had studied mass media at the National Institute of Communication Research and Training at Vaishali in Uttar Pradesh, was in charge of a printing press in Kotdwar.
In a video sent to friends before his death, the priest said he was carrying relief materials for some 20 families who were hit by heavy landslides in Joshimath.
Father Pallithazhathu was born on March 3, 1986, in Chakkittapara in the Kozhikode district of Kerala. He was ordained a priest on May 6, 2015.
Sister Pulikkottle was born on March 25, 1950. She had her first religious profession on May 15, 1976.
She had gone for her holidays and was returning from home when the accident happened. She reportedly fell from the train just before reaching her arrival station in Bangalore Cantonment.
“She must have been at the door to check the station as she was supposed to get down at the Cantonment station when she accidentally fell from the train,” said Father Faustine Lobo, spokesperson of the Catholic Church in Karnataka.
Father Lobo described the nun as “a humble sister engaged in parish-based faith formation programs.”
