TIO
The death of eight tourists from Kerala at a resort in Nepal’s Makwanpur district due to suspected suffocation has sent shockwaves though the small village of Chengottukonam on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram from where five of the dead hailed. The other three were from Kozhikkode in north Kerala.
The tragedy wiped out an entire family from Chengottukonam – Praveen Kumar Nair (39), his wife Sharnya Nair (34) and their three children. Nair, who was working as an engineer in Dubai, had come home on vacation only two weeks ago, said relatives.
“Five men, all belonging to the 1995 batch of an engineering college in Thiruvananthapuram, had planned the tour with their family members. They left Kochi last Saturday. We could not believe Praveen’s whole family has perished,” said one of his uncles K Balachandran.
He said some officials informed them that they all died of asphyxiation and they were yet to hear details. Balachandran said Nair’s father had told him that he had a word with his grandchildren before they went to sleep.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has condoled the death of the eight tourists and wrote to Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar seeking his help to bring back their bodies at the earliest.
“It was a shocking incident. We are in touch with the minister and other officials and expected to bring their bodies by Wednesday,” said the CM.
Kerala’s tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran also expressed grief over the incident. “It is a personal loss to me. I know the family personally,” said the minister who represents the Kazakootam assembly constituency.
