TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
CANACONA: The mortal remains of the two siblings who drowned at Agonda were laid to rest in the village cemetery on Wednesday evening, as villagers, friend and relatives thronged to pay their last respects.
It may be recalled that gloom descended on Agonda over the drowning of Jason Fernandes (26) and Jocelyn Fernandes (29) while on a leisure fishing trip on the village coast.
Jocelyn had attempted to rescue her brother, Jason, late Monday evening when his leg got entangled in a net they had cast in the sea. Jocelyn was also dragged into the sea though she was later pulled ashore; however, she was declared dead at the Canacona Community Health Centre (CHC).
The body of Jason washed ashore early Tuesday morning, about 200 metres from the site of the ill-fated fishing trip.
Finding it difficult to control the mourners visiting both the houses, bodies of Jocelyn and Jason were kept outside the church to enable mourners to pay their final respects.
Local MLA and Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar and former Canacona MLA Vijay Poi Khot visited both the families earlier in the day, while Quepem MLA Chandrakant Kavlekar attended the funeral.
After the Eucharistic concelebrated by village Parish Priest Fr Romeo D’Silva and ex-parish priest Fr Mathew Fernandes, besides Fr Arvind Fernandes, Fr Santiago Fernandes, the bodies were then laid to rest in the village cemetery.
Meanwhile, villagers reacted angrily to reports of a police case filed by a doctor against Jocelyn’s husband, Cadgon, for allegedly assaulting a doctor late Monday evening, when his wife was rushed to CHC for medical attention.
It is reportedly learnt that a doctor attached to CHC lodged a complaint with Canacona Police that Cadgon allegedly assaulted him late Monday evening before entering into an argument with him over non-availability of transportation facility to shift the body to Hospicio in Margao.
Other relatives, who were in CHC at the time denied any assault as reportedly claimed by the doctor, except the arguments.
“Doctors should understand the state of mind of a close family member when such incidents like the present one occur. Doctors are also humans and should understand human feelings and react to situations accordingly. There was no need to lodge a police complaint against a grieving family member merely for entering into an argument, as the affected persons are distressed at that particular moment,” MLA Kavlekar told Herald. It is also learnt that Canacona Police has lodged a FIR.
