Nepal tragedy: Dubai family's bodies to reach Kerala today

Dubai - Relatives and friends in Dubai said they would be travelling to bid adieu to their friends and their three children.

As the bodies of the Dubai-based five-member family killed in a possible gas leak in Nepal are expected to be repatriated to their hometown of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala on Thursday, devastated relatives and friends in Dubai said they would be travelling to bid adieu to their friends and their three children.
Long-time Dubai resident Praveen Krishnan Nair, his wife Saranya Sasi and three kids Sreebhadra Praveen, Aarcha Praveen and Abhinav Saranya Nair were five among the eight people who lost their lives in a hotel room in Nepal.
"Our families are all in the process of travelling to Kerala for the final rites. We are hoping that it will be held on Thursday," said Saranya's cousin in Dubai.
"Everyone is in a state of deep shock. The ones closest to them are barely holding things together. Praveen was a very jovial, kind person, and the family would always support everyone in hardships and joy," he added.
Following the autopsy on Wednesday, the bodies of the eight Indian tourists, including four minors, who died due to possible asphyxiation in their room at a resort in Nepal would be flown back home on Thursday, said, relatives of the deceased living in Dubai.
Praveen's colleagues at Kalandoor Group of Companies in Dubai, where he had been working for 11 years, have flown to Kerala to be part of the funeral. "We were informed by one of Praveen's friends about the incident. We could not believe it," said Kalandoor, Praveen's employer and owner of the company.
"Immediately after we got the information, we started making frantic calls to the hospital and the hotel they were staying. We called about 10-15 times before someone at the hospital told us that they're all gone," added Kalandoor.
"Praveen loved to travel. He was a very loyal, hardworking individual, and one of our company's greatest strengths," he said.
Senior officials at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu also confirmed the reports that the bodies will be repatriated on Thursday. "Postmortem of the bodies is being conducted at the Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu and they would be flown back home tomorrow (Thursday) morning," a senior official at the embassy said. "We are ensuring that the process to send back the bodies is expedited," the official added.
The official said that out of the seven who survived, two stayed with the bodies while the others are already on their way back.
Tragedy struck a group of 15 tourists from Kerala when eight of them died after they fell unconscious, probably because of a gas leak from a heater in their room at a mountainous resort in Makwanpur district's Daman, amidst cold wave in the Himalayan region.
The tourists were airlifted to HAMS hospital here where they were pronounced dead on arrival. Makwanpur police said the victims might have fallen unconscious due to asphyxiation.
Praveen's friend Ranjith Kumar, his wife Indu Lakshmi and their son Vyshnav Ranjith were also killed.
Praveen, who hails from Chempazhanthi in Thiruvananthapuram, was an engineer in Dubai, while his wife, Saranya, was staying in Kochi along with three children for her studies. Praveen and Ranjit, both IT professionals, were engineering college classmates and the tour was arranged after a get-together with old friends in Delhi, a family member said.
"The kids' were also celebrating their birthdays this month," said an aunt. She added before breaking down on the phone: "Since Saranya and the kids moved back to Kochi so that she could pursue her higher education, Praveen would come down every year during this time and celebrate with them. He came to meet the little ones very often. He was a very doting father."
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai