Bodies of medicos handed over to kin

The bodies of four Indian students who drowned in the Volga earlier this month arrived here on Friday by a cargo flight. They were received by their respective family members after the mandatory formalities were been completed. Bharatiya Janata Party State president L. Murugan was present at the airport when the coffins arrived.

On August 8, four medical students at Volgograd State Medical University, who had gone for a walk along the bank of Volga river had drowned.

According to the kin of the deceased, one of the students slipped into the river and cried for help. When the rest of students went to help him, all of them were dragged in by the current.

Chennai resident

Three of the four students are from other districts while Stephen Lebaku is a resident of Perambur. Stephen was in the second year of medical degree while the rest — R. Vignesh, Manoj Anandan and Mohamed Ashiq — were five months away from finishing their M.D. degree.

The State government had provided separate hearses to carry the bodies back to their respective hometowns.

Anand Kumar, Stephens uncle, said the flight carrying the remains of the students arrived around 3 p.m. after which the families had to go through the customs requirements. The bodies were handed over around 7.30 p.m.