Chennai: The mortal remains of 15 Indianswho were killed in a boat accident in Vietnam reached their home states on Tuesday. Flights carrying bodies of 10 Tamil Nadu natives arrived from Mumbai, with six brought to Coimbatore and the remaining four to Chennai.
Heart-wrenching scenes unfolded at the Chennai and Coimbatore airports as grieving families received the bodies of their loved ones, who died after their speedboat capsized off the coast of Vietnam.
Of the 15 Indians killed in the accident, 10 hailed from Tamil Nadu, three from Andhra Pradesh and two from Kerala.
The bodies of Tamil Nadu natives Vinaya Kumar Chithapuram Bhaskara (Vellore), Ravisankar Sugumaran (Tiruvannamalai), Santosh Kumar Shantilal Jain (Chennai) and Babu Kuppuswamy (Chennai) were received in Chennai.
The bodies of J Senthil Kumar (Dharmapuri), S Sridhar (Salem), A Muruga Prabhu (Palani), A Shaik Abdullah (Tiruchi), N Balaji (Tiruchi) and S Alagurajan (Tiruchi) arrived in Coimbatore on two flights.
Prabhakaran, a relative of one of the victims, expressed profound grief over the sudden death of his 49-year-old family member.
Speaking to PTI Videos, he said the family was struggling to come to terms with the tragedy but expressed gratitude that the body had been brought home and handed over without any procedural difficulties.
Prabhakaran thanked the Tamil Nadu government, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, TVK MLA Vinoth, Tamil Nadu Police DIG Santosh Kumar and an official of the Indian Embassy in Vietnam for ensuring smooth coordination during the repatriation process.
The caskets had arrived at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City at around 9.30 pm on July 13. The following day, the bodies were dispatched to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, the home states of the deceased.
Senior officials, including Tamil Nadu Police DIG Santosh Kumar and Regional Passport Officer Swapnil Thorat, were present at the international cargo terminal in Chennai to oversee the arrival.
After customs clearance at the international cargo facility, the caskets were shifted to the domestic cargo terminal for onward transportation.
The bodies of the victims from Tamil Nadu were flown to Coimbatore and Chennai on multiple early morning flights, while the mortal remains of those from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala were flown to Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram, respectively.
Officials were also present at Coimbatore airport to receive the bodies and facilitate their transportation to the victims' homes.
In Kerala, the bodies of Kottarakkara natives A C Thomas (57) and his wife Loveni Thomas (56) arrived at the Thiruvananthapuram airport in the morning and after completion of official formalities, they were transported by ambulance to their hometown in Kottarakkara.
Kerala Ministers P C Vishnunadh and C P John along with Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh were also present at the airport to receive the bodies and paid tributes to the couple by placing wreaths on the coffins.
The bodies were flown from Mumbai to Thiruvananthapuram on an Air India flight.
Out of the 15, bodies of three Andhra Pradesh natives were taken to their native places from RGI airport in Hyderabad. The deceased are Ravi Teja from Hindupuram, Mudiyam Sreedhar of Kadapa district and Gelli Jaya Lakshmi of Machilipatnam in Krishna district.
The caskets initially arrived at the Mumbai international airport on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City at 9.30 pm on July 13.
Andhra Pradesh MSME Minister Kondapalli Srinivas was at the Hyderabad airport to supervise the arrangements for receiving the mortal remains and to console the family members of the deceased who came to collect the bodies.
The speedboat was carrying 32 Indian tourists and four crew members when it capsized about 400 metres off Hon May Rut Ngoai, an island in the An Thoi archipelago off Phu Quoc.
