Though they were in grief on seeing the charred remains of their sons who were killed in the tragic boiler accident here on Thursday, family members of the victims chose to remain silent fearing that the company would not compensate for their loss.

It was a rather nervous moment than emotional one for the family members who arrived at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital around 1.00 p.m. on Monday.

According to sources, 11 members of the 6 victims’ families belonging to a tribal settlement from Alipore district in West Bengal had reportedly landed in Coimbatore as early as 6.00 a.m. on Monday morning to receive the bodies of their sons A. Gunal (19), S. Birjune (20), J. Saroj (20), A. Dharun (19), D. Bicose (19) and S. Preetham (25).

However, sources alleged that they were kept in a secret place by the company representatives and they were not brought to the hospital until 1.00 p.m. Their whereabouts were not informed to the police despite the matter being taken to court. It may be noted that four accused in the case were granted spot bail by the court well before the victims started to die one be one.

Even as members of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) alleged that their bails should be challenged at a higher court despite all the sections they were charged against them being bailable. The accused were charged under 285, 338 and 304 (a).

Denying that they would not challenge again, the family members who looked rather petrified said that they were afraid that they would not be compensated by the company if they spoke out.

“Nobody threatened us not to file a complaint and we want to be at peace. Our families have already suffered a huge loss and we are not interested in filing complaints. We just want to be compensated for the loss that has incurred,” said a grieved member of one of the families.

A heated argument arose between the representatives of the factory and media persons as they were not allowed to talk with the family members earlier.

The mortal remains were later cremated at the Nanjundapuram crematorium. Meanwhile, the Sri Nagalakshmi Pyrolysis factory in which the accident took place had said that they would give Rs.5 lakh each to the family members of Gunal, Birjune, Saroj, Dharun and Bicose and more than Rs.5 lakh to the family of Preetham as he was married.

The representatives of the factory also said that the allegations stating that the company was running without a license was wrong and added that the company had all valid documents.
The State government had also offered a solatium of Rs. 1 lakh to each of the family members.