A day after the deaths of eight Keralites in Nepal, grieving relatives and friends gathered at Rohini Bhavan, the home of Praveen Krishnan Nair at Ayyankoyikal, Chenkottukonam, on Wednesday, awaiting further news from Kathmandu.
The shock of losing five members of a family all at once was tangible. Praveen’s aged parents Krishnan Nair and Prasanna Kumari and sister Praseeda, who reside at Chenkottukonam, had been given a hint of the tragedy only late Tuesday evening.
The bodies of Praveen, 39, his wife Saranya, 34, and their children Sreebhadra, 9, Aarcha, 8, and Abhinav, 7, will be flown to New Delhi from Kathmandu on Thursday morning. From there, they will be flown to the city on a 6.30 p.m. flight. “The flight is expected here by 10 p.m.,” Collector K. Gopalakrishnan said. Praveen’s friends, who had left for Kathmandu on Tuesday, reached the Nepal capital on Wednesday morning, Praveen’s brother-in-law Rajesh R. said.
Sending shock waves across the State on Tuesday, eight members of two families had died presumably due to asphyxiation caused by a heater gas leak in a hotel room in Daman, a tourist draw some 80 kilometres from the Nepal capital. Praveen’s friend Renjith Kumar, 39, his wife Indu, 34, and son Vaishnav, 2, also lost their lives in the tragedy.
To Kozhikode tomorrow
Renjith’s elder son Madhav survived as he was sharing another room with two families who were part of the group. The bodies of Renjith and his family will be transferred to Kozhikode in a Friday morning flight.
The tourist group from Kerala was made up of four families - the men being former classmates at the Sri Chitra Thirunal Engineering College, Pappanamcode.
Praveen had been employed as operations manager at Kalandoor Group of Companies, Dubai. Saranya had returned to Kochi a few years ago to complete her MPharm. “You were an extraordinary gift to us and your legacy will live on forever,” Praveen’s colleagues posted on the company website after the news broke.
Praveen’s father Krishnan Nair had been employed in the United Arab Emirates. On his retirement, Mr. Krishnan Nair had settled in Chenkottukonam. Praveen, who had completed his high school education in the UAE, had joined the SCT College of Engineering, Pappanamcode, for higher studies. Praveen had visited his parents in Chenkottukonam with his family in December 2019, family members said.
Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran visited Rohini Bhavan on Tuesday evening. V.K. Prasanth, MLA, and former MLA M.A. Vahid were among the visitors on Wednesday.
