CHENNAI: Members of the Professional Social Workers Association (PSWA) on Saturday demanded the government’s assistance in airlifting the five students and one faculty member of Mar Gregorious College in the city, who are receiving medical treatment in Nepal, to bring them to Chennai. The association has also demanded that the government provide financial assistance in treating the injured, apart from announcing a solatium to the kin of Florence Angel, a student who died during the ill-fated trip to Nepal.S Florence Angel, a second year student of MSW in the college, along with 41 other classmates and two faculty members, undertook a journey to Nepal to study the working of NGOs there on October 12. Ten days later, tragedy struck when a dozen students visited a suspension bridge over a river which had collapsed. Florence Angel fell on a rock and died on the spot, while her friend Hamida S Momin had been missing since the incident. Several others were injured.On the details of the sight-seeing tour, Krishna Kumar - Florence’s classmate, said the students were excited upon seeing the bridge and visited it. Soon, some more people came and perhaps unable to take the weight, the bridge gave way, injuring many seriously. Calling it a painful experience to have been with his classmates as they wriggled in pain, Ajith Moses, another student, said five of the batch of 42 students, and a faculty member are still in Nepal, while among the rest who have reached Chennai, one student is still undergoing treatment for a broken elbow and a gap in the backbone.Recalling his sister’s passion to serve society, Louis Xavier, Florence Angel’s brother, said despite being in a deep financial crunch, Florence had insisted on undertaking the trip to Nepal as it was part of her course. “I had to give her the money I’d planned to pay my credit card bills for. I am yet to recover from the shock that she will not be in our house anymore,” he said, as he displayed a pair of eye-glasses that she had bought for him during the tour, which was found in her bags.Andrew Sesuraj, secretary of PSWA, in which Florence was a student-member, said their requests to meet government representatives to seek financial assistance for those undergoing treatment after the mishap, have not been successful. We are hoping to meet the Chief Minister or the Mayor and seek their help in this regard, he said.
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