Vietnam boat tragedy: Victims’ kin bid final adieu

THe mortal remains of the 10 people from Tamil Nadu who died in the socialist republic of vietnam boat chance event endure hebdomad arrived in the say on Tuesday.The remains were flown in from Mumbai. Six bodies were taken to Coimbatore, while the remaining four were brought to Chennai.Ten people from Tamil Nadu were among the 15 killed when a tourist boat capsized about 400 metres off Hon May Rut Ngoai, an island in the An Thoi archipelago off the coast of Phu Quoc, on July 11. The other victims included three people from Andhra Pradesh and two from Kerala.The caskets carrying the remains arrived at Mumbai international airport on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City on July 13.The bodies of Vinaya Kumar Chithapuram Bhaskara (Vellore), Ravisankar Sugumaran (Tiruvannamalai), Santosh Kumar Shantilaljain (Chennai), and Babu Kuppuswamy (Chennai) were received in Chennai.The bodies of J Senthil Kumar (Dharmapuri), S Sridhar (Salem), A Muruga Prabhu (Palani), A Shaik Abdullah (Tiruchi), N Balaji (Tiruchi) and S Alagurajan (Tiruchi) arrived in Coimbatore on two flights.On Tuesday, the Indian Embassy in Vietnam said, “The mortal remains of the 15 Indian nationals who lost their lives in the tragic boat accident on July 11 in Phu Quoc have reached their respective States.”“The Embassy of India, Hanoi and the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City wish to thank the state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Our prayers are with the families of the deceased. We pray for strength to the families during these difficult times,” it added.Meanwhile, survivor Nirmal Kumar, who arrived in Coimbatore on Tuesday, recounted the incident.“I am one of the survivors of the speed boat tragedy. When we were going from one island to another island, the boat capsized. In that 20 people who are sitting in the front tried to escape by jumping into the sea. Balance, 15 people who were stuck inside the boat, could not get out as it was a closed boat.”He added, “Before rescue teams arrived, more than 10 minutes had passed. So, people who jumped into the sea survived while the rest could not. The Indian and Vietnamese governments supported us in recovering the bodies and provided medical help to the injured.”Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay had earlier directed officials to take all necessary steps to bring the mortal remains back to the state.He instructed state officials to coordinate with the Tamil Nadu House in New Delhi, the external affairs ministry and senior officials of the Indian Embassy in Vietnam to gather details of the affected Tamils and extend all necessary assistance to their families.Vijay also deputed senior IPS officer Santosh Hadimani, Salem deputy inspector general of police, to expedite the repatriation of the mortal remains of the 10 victims.