Tearful adieu to five Kerala tourists who died in Nepal resort

Amid heart-rending scenes, the mortal remains of five tourists from Kerala, who died following possible asphyxiation in their room at a mountainous resort in Nepal, were laid to rest in the compound of their house on Friday (January 24).

While bodies of Praveen Nair and his wife Saranya were cremated, their three children —Sree Bhadra (9), Aarcha (7) and Abhinav (4) — were laid to rest in a single burial pit,
flanked by the graves of their parents.

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Hundreds of sobbing mourners — relatives, friends and neighbours- were among those who queued up with flowers and wreaths to pay their last respects to Praveen Nair, a Dubai- based IT professional, his wife Saranya, a second year M.Pharm student and their children— students of Saraswathi Vidyaniketan, Kochi.

Three-year-old Arav, nephew of Saranya, along with family members performed the last rites after close relatives, including children, performed the rituals. After the bodies of the children were buried, the remains of Praveen and Saranya were cremated.

The caskets carrying the five bodies, which reached the city midnight from New Delhi, were taken to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital mortuary and by dawn taken to Chengottukonam village, bordering Kollam district in five ambulances for the final journey.

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The aged parents of Praveen — Krishnan Nair and Prasannakumari — were seen being comforted by family and friends. Meanwhile, the bodies of three others — Ranjit Kumar, his wife Indu and son Vaishnav — who had also lost their lives at the resort, are expected to reach Kozhikode on Friday.

Their six-year-old son Madhav, the lone survivor, has been informed about the death of his parents and younger brother. According to media reports, Madhav’s school teachers and a counsellor broke the news to the child on Thursday.

The deceased were among a group of 15 tourists from Kerala who had checked into a resort in Daman, a popular tourist spot in Makawanpur district, some 70 km south of
Kathmandu.

Praveen and Ranjit, both IT professionals, were engineering college classmates and the tour was arranged after a get-together with old friends in Delhi.

Also read | Death of Kerala tourists in Nepal leaves a pall of gloom back home