Blast: bodies to be flown in today

The bodies of two Keralites killed in a suicide bomb blast in Kabul in Afghanistan last Tuesday will be brought home on Monday night, according to information received by the victims’ relatives here on Sunday.

According to Nikhil Manioth, nephew of K.K. Raveendran of Eramala in Kozhikode who was killed in the blast, they had received information from DyncCorp International, his employer in Kabul, that the body would arrive at the Kozhikode airport by an Emirates flight from Dubai at 7.30 p.m. on Monday. The body of V.K. Ponnappan will be brought to the Cochin international airport at Nedumbassery by Emirates flight from Dubai a few hours later at 2.30 a.m. on Tuesday, said a relative.

The bodies are expected to be airlifted from Kabul to Dubai on Sunday evening and from there to Kerala, after a stopover, on Monday afternoon, as per the flight plan. Originally, the plan was to airlift the bodies of both the victims to Kozhikode. However, this was later changed, the victims’ relatives said.

Ex-servicemen The two ex-servicemen were killed in the suicide bomb attack by Taliban on July 22 at Camp Gibson, which houses a counter narcotics department. The bomber, wearing police uniform, had arrived on a motorbike and set off the bomb near the entrance. Five persons, including the Keralites, were killed in the blast.

The two Keralites had been working in Kuwait from where they were recruited by private agencies. Ponnappan, who was with the Indian Air Force as a nursing assistant, had taken voluntary retirement and gone to Kuwait to work as a security guard. He leaves behind his wife, Shyla, and two children. Raveendran was with the Corps of Signals.

He leaves behind his wife, Pushpaveni, and two daughters.