Ever since he began his ambulance and freezer box services, eight years ago, Senthil Kumar has been busy sharing the grief of bereaved families as he goes about easing their burden in their moments of utter grief.

In addition to transporting the mortal remains of the dead to the cremation grounds, the proprietor of Senthil Ambulance and Freezer Box Services, along with his team of volunteers, also transports unclaimed bodies to the burial ground, performs their last rites and has them buried.

“The unidentified bodies are buried and not cremated, in case someone comes and claims it after a few months. In such cases, the bodies are exhumed and handed over to the family,” Senthil says.

A majority of unclaimed bodies that are buried by Senthil belong to senior citizens. According to him, it is mainly due to the fact that family members abandon them on the streets, where they live their remaining days in inhuman conditions and die. Most of them take to begging on the streets. Their families are not even aware of their demise, which is why their bodies remain unclaimed.

Senthil tells us that in the eight years since he began the ambulance and freezer box service, he has buried 165 unclaimed bodies. One of the major challenges that Senthil faces is getting people to help him bury the dead. “In our homes, the stench of even a dead rat is unbearable. Nobody comes forward to bury the dead human beings, especially if they are not known to them,” Senthil says.

But that has not stopped him from carrying out the requests of the police and the authorities of the Government Hospital in Coimbatore and Mettupalayam to bury their unclaimed dead.

The tragic inspiration for Senthil’s ambulance and freezer box service was the untimely death of his sister, 12 years ago. She had got married to the man she loved, but, within 45 days of her wedding, she had committed suicide by setting herself ablaze. She sustained burn injuries and died at the Coimbatore Government Hospital.

The death of his sister prompted Senthil to look at life differently. A few years after his sister’s death, Senthil made up his mind that he will serve the society and thus was born his Senthil Ambulance and Freezer Box Service, in his hometown Mettupalayam.