Two weeks after he lost his wife and toddler son to the violent internal strife in Libya, D. Vipin Kumar is returning to his homeland with the bodies of his loved ones.
Speaking to The Hindu from Tripoli, Mr. Kumar said the bodies will be moved from Tripoli by 7 p.m. on Thursday. It will take the Tunis-Doha route to arrive in Kochi by 8.10 a.m. on Saturday. Mr Kumar’s ticket has also been confirmed but he will not be accompanying the bodies from Tripoli for security reasons. Instead, he will take the Tripoli-Istanbul-Doha route to Kochi. “I will accompany the bodies from Doha to Kochi,” he said.
Mr. Kumar, a male nurse, has been working along with his wife Sunu Satyan at the Zawiya Medical Centre at Sabrahta in Libya for the past three years.
The couple, along with their 18-month-old son Pranav, was staying at the hospital quarters. Tragedy struck the family when Sunu and Pranav were caught in the crossfire between two armed warring groups and the wife and the child were killed when a rocket-propelled grenade struck their residential room on the night of Good Friday, March 25.
Their hospital was closed following this and their colleagues were moved to a safer place in Motred, a seaside town nearly 12 km from Sabratha. The bodies kept at the Zawiya Medical Centre for four days were later moved to the Shara Zawiya Central Hospital, Tripoli.
According to Mr. Kumar, they will take the bodies to the domestic airport in Tunis by a local air service, then to the international airport in Tunisia by road, to be taken to Doha and then Kochi. He will take the journey without risking the road journey in Tunisia.
Meanwhile, the fate of the 32 Indians still staying at Motred is still hanging in balance. According to Abraham Samuel, who stays with his wife and child at a makeshift camp along with others, though the hospital authorities had started stamping their papers, it was progressing slowly. “It will take another 10 days for us to move from here,” he said.
NoRKA sources meanwhile said they are trying to bring the stranded Indians in one batch at the earliest.
Bodies will be brought via
Tunis-Doha to arrive in Kochi
on Saturday.
