New Delhi, Oct 1 (Inditop.com) Relatives and friends of the 12 people from Delhi who were among the 42 who drowned in the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary Wednesday when their tourist boat capsized were shocked and inconsolable as they waited for the bodies of their loved ones Thursday.
Among the 12 were Pradeep Jain, his wife Sandhya, daughters Shruti and Sangeeta, mother in-law Vimala and grandson Partha. The family resided in Multan Nagar in west Delhi.
“The family’s 10 members had gone on a holiday. We received a frantic phone call last night from Pradeep’s other daughter Niti saying that her parents and sisters had drowned in a boat accident. I still can’t believe it,” Rajesh Sharma, a close family friend who worked with Pradeep, told Inditop.
“Niti was completely shaken. She lost her entire family and valuables in the tragedy,” Sharma said in a heavy voice.
Ravi Prakash, one of Pradeep Jain’s relatives, said: “Their bodies have been sent for post mortem examination this (Thursday) morning. Niti and the others who survived the accident would be arriving in the capital late night from Thiruvananthapuram with the bodies.”
The family had gone to enjoy an extended Dusshera vacations Sep 27-Oct 4.
Relatives of another family of four who died in the tragedy were equally shocked that a three-day holiday ended in grief.
The victims were Arun Koura, his wife Sruti Koura and their daughters Anika and Renu. Arun Koura worked with a private company in Chandigarh and would visit his family in Paschim Vihar in west Delhi every week. His wife worked in Sanchar Haat and while the elder daughter was an engineer, the younger one was an engineering student.
“The entire family is finished. How can god be so harsh with them? Arun was a gem of a person. Everyone wanted to be his friend. The entire family was very loving and caring. We are just shocked,” said Arun Koura’s cousin Anil Suri.
“We are told that only three bodies have been identified so far. They have called us to identify the body of one of the daughters. We are rushing there,” an inconsolable Suri told Inditop. Their bodies were expected to be brought back to Delhi Friday.
The other victim was identified as Salika. But the authorities were yet to locate her family members and residential address here in the capital.
The tragedy occurred Wednesday at 5.15 p.m. when the boat carrying 76 tourists capsized in a lake in the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in central Kerala. The toll in the Thekkady boat tragedy touched 42 Thursday.
A 24-member diving team of the Indian Navy was searching for more bodies.
