"He saw the face of his granddaughter, a baby, and spoke to his wife and son in the morning, and that turned out to be his last conversation with his family," said a relative of Shaik Abdullah Abdul Majeed from Tamil Nadu's Tiruchirappalli, who was among the 15 dead in the Vietnam boat capsize incident.
Abdullah was a channel partner of a mobile phone firm that had sponsored the junket for its business associates.
What began as a fun trip in a breathtaking foreign location sponsored by the mobile phone company for its associates of southern India ended in a tragedy on Saturday.
Ten persons from Tamil Nadu, and three and two from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, respectively, were killed after their boat capsized off Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam, according to the Indian Embassy in Hanoi.
All the state governments of the southern states said they are working with the Centre to expeditiously bring the bodies to their respective states and extend all support to the kin of the victims.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Droupadi Murmu and chief ministers of states expressed their grief and conveyed their condolences.
There were 36 people on board, including 32 Indian tourists and four local crew members, of which 21 were rescued.
Phu Quoc, Vietnam's largest island, is a major tourist destination, known for its white-sand beaches, coral reefs and island-hopping excursions.
A relative of Shaik Abdullah Abdul Majeed, who was killed in the incident, told reporters: "He (Shaik Abdullah) does not usually go on a tour. He was 54 years old. He thought of sending his son on this tour. But God willing, he chose to go, and this has happened; it is unexpected."
Abdullah had left home for the foreign tour on Wednesday, and he was scheduled to return to Tiruchirappalli on July 13, he said.
On Saturday morning, he spoke to his son about the business.
He spoke to his wife and had told her that he and others were being taken to an island and that mobile signals would not be available in that area.
The relative added: "He had told her that he would call them (his family) after returning from that island and he had advised her against calling him in the meanwhile. He saw his granddaughter, a baby, on a video call. It was his last conversation with his family members."
Mohammed Ismail, cousin of Abdullah, told PTI: "We did not get the news directly. We were informed by the people there (who had gone to Vietnam from Tamil Nadu). They went for a trip sponsored by the Lava mobile company."
"It is unfortunate that he has passed away. We request the state and central governments to expedite the process of bringing the bodies to India. We pray for all the victims who have lost their lives," he added.
In a statement, Lava Mobiles said: "We at Lava are deeply saddened to confirm that 14 of our channel partners and one member of our Lava team have tragically lost their lives in a boat accident earlier today near Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam."
"Our hearts and prayers are with their families and loved ones. This is an unimaginable tragedy, and we stand with them during this time of profound grief. We are in close and continuous contact with the Embassy of India in Vietnam and the local authorities, and are doing everything possible to facilitate the earliest possible repatriation of the mortal remains," it added.
"Our immediate priority is to support every affected family, and our teams in both India and Vietnam remain by their side, extending every possible assistance," it further said.
A survivor, Nirmal Kumar from Palani, told PTI Videos over the phone that the speedboat they travelled on overturned within seconds, reportedly due to high waves and possible overloading.
Most of the tourists onboard the boat were from Tamil Nadu, and two were in a hospital in a critical condition.
Ashish Kumar, a 48-year-old distributor of a mobile phone company from Andhra Pradesh's Guntur, said the tourists were divided into batches and ferried to the island as part of a company outing.
"We had all gone there as sellers, distributors and employees of Lava Mobile. We reached Vietnam on July 9 and were supposed to return to India on Sunday morning," Kumar told PTI over the phone.
According to him, one of the three boats, carrying 32 Indian tourists, had left the Hon May Rut Ngoai island for another island, while the remaining two groups were still on Hon May Rut Ngoai, taking photographs.
"The incident happened around 1:30 pm local time. The boat had gone barely 300 to 400 metres when it tipped over. We were taking pictures, and it happened before we could react," he said.
"The boat had hardly left the island. We were all screaming for help," Kumar said, adding that the weather conditions were not adverse.
He said rescue teams reached the spot soon after and brought the survivors and bodies back to the shore, but claimed that no medical teams were immediately available.
The uncle of Alagurajan Sivasamy, killed in the boat tragedy, told reporters in Tiruchirappalli that the HR and CE Minister S Ramesh, the district minister, has conveyed to them that all steps were being taken to expeditiously bring the bodies of the victims.
Embassy of India in Vietnam identified the 15 tourists who lost their lives.