PALAKKAD: Friends and teachers are not able to accept the truth that Ayesha is no more. She will never return to play a bride (manavatthy) again. Ayesha, who died in the Panayampadam accident, was a regular bride in the school art festival from class 2 to 8. Ayesha had recently participated in the Palakkad District Youth Festival held in Sreekrishnapuram. She was good in arts as well as in studies. The teachers who rushed to the tragedy spot did not have the courage to see the lifeless bodies of Ayesha and her friends. Many including the teachers were wailing. No one was able to calm them down.

Thousands of people flocked to pay homage to the bodies of the four girls kept at Karimbanakkal Hall in Thuppanadu. Many including the district collector and people's representatives were there. The four was laid to rest at the Juma Masjid in Thuppanadu.

The students dead were P A Irfana Sherin, daughter of Abdul Salam, Rida Fathima, daughter of Abdul Rafeeq, K M Nida Fathima, daughter of Abdul Salim and A S Ayesha, daughter of Sharafuddin, all from Cherully. The bodies were brought to their homes at 6:30 am after postmortem.

The bodies were taken to the Karimpanaykal Hall in Thuppanad after being kept at their homes for two hours for public viewing. There will be no public viewing at Karimpana Higher Secondary School where the students studied.

The students were crushed to death by a lorry carrying cement. The students were eighth class students of Karimba Higher Secondary School. Their classmate Ajna Sherin, who was with them, had a narrow escape. The accident happened at Panayampadam near Kalladikode on the Kozhikode-Palakkad national highway at around 3.50 pm yesterday. The police had taken the lorry driver Mahendra Prasad and cleaner Varghese of Kasargod into custody.