Sixty-year-old Amardeep Kapoor can finally grieve for his 25-year-old son, whose mortal remains arrived in the Capital on Tuesday afternoon after months of uncertainty, during which he had almost lost hope of ever performing his son's final rites.
Kapoor had been trying to get his sailor-son Dinesh Kumar's mortal remains since news of his death aboard an Iranian merchant ship first came to light in October 2011.
“Amardeep must have made around 20 trips to Delhi from Palampur [Himachal Pradesh] trying to get his son's body back from Iran. He did not even allow himself to grieve properly,” said Subash Chand Kapoor, his brother.
His body finally arrived by flight in the Capital at 12.40 p.m. on Tuesday, but it was not until around 5 p.m. that all the paper work was completed.
“Although he has been struggling for a long time to get back his son's body, the realisation that Dinesh is gone forever seemed to sink in the moment he saw his coffin. He started crying and has barely spoken a word after that,” said Subash. “We were all so excited that he was going abroad and his parents were so proud. He was so lively.”
Amardeep was accompanied by four family members and several other well-wishers from his village.
“The State government has given us an ambulance to help take the body back to Palampur, which is about 600 km from Delhi. We will perform the final rites on Wednesday there,” added Subash. Fighting back tears, Amardeep thanked his relatives who helped him.
The Iranian ship, Shab Row, is believed to have sunk between Kish Island and Bandar Linge, with all members aboard. There is no news of two other Indians aboard the same ship.
