The NoRKA Roots, under the Department of Non-Resident Keralites, has taken steps to bring back home the bodies of two Keralite nurses who died in a road accident in Saudi Arabia on Friday. NoRKA Roots CEO Harikrishnan K. Namboothiri said paperwork had been speeded up after consultations with the Indian Embassy in Riyadh and the Indian Consulate in Jeddah.
Nurse Ashwaty Vijayan, 31, hailing from Thannimood in Thiruvananthapuram and her colleague Shincy Philip, 28, from Vayala in Kottayam district were killed when the car in which they were travelling collided with another vehicle at Najran on Friday. Two of their colleagues, Rinzy and Sneha, and Ajith, who drove the car, were injured in the accident. The two nurses are now in critical care at the Najran General Hospital, while Mr. Ajith is admitted in King Khalid Hospital. All four nurses were employees of the King Khalid Hospital.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said the Indian Consulate had expedited steps to send the bodies to India. The Consul General had discussed the procedures with the officials of Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Affairs Department.
The nurses’ associations and activists based in Najran have been making efforts, including reaching out to political leaders in Kerala, to bring home the nurses’ bodies, which are now kept in the mortuary of the Najran General Hospital.
