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| Sunday, 2 January 2005 |
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India's victims ring in New Year with prayers, tears VALAINKANI, India, Saturday (AFP) Hundreds began gathered at a majestic church in this Christian pilgrimage town in southern India for a solemn service to herald in the New Year Saturday and pray for thousands who perished when tsunamis battered the region a week ago. Young and old joined the solemn ceremony in the 17th century basilica in Velankani, with heads bowed in reverence and hands folded in prayer, witnesses said. The service was conducted by the chief priest Antony Swamy in the local Tamil language. "Our life is so small. We have not seen anything like this (destruction caused by the tsunami) before. We hope we will never see anything like this again," he told the congregation. "People who are dead, are not dead. They are still alive. Let us all stand up and pray for them," Swamy urged the hundreds of men, women and children inside the shrine as well as those squatting outside. "Tomorrow is a new day, let us pray that this never happens anywhere in the world." he added, but was unable to console many women attending the service who were seen wiping away their tears with their saris - a traditional Indian dress. Hymns playing out through loudspeakers could be heard along the coastline where police and army personnel stood silently watching the scene. |
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