Families mourn Kuwait re victims
As airport stafi began bringing the caskets from the import cargo terminal and placing them on a designated podium, sobs gave way to loud cries of grief; the bodies were then shifted to ambulances and taken to their respective hometowns
As the ffrst casket bearing the body of Arun Babu was solemnly brought out of the cargo terminal of the Cochin international airport in Kerala on Friday, mourning families huddled together to receive the remains of their loved ones who perished in the devastating ffre tragedy in Kuwait two days ago. The scene at the cargo terminal was heart-wrenching. Stified sobs gave way to loud cries of grief as family members saw the names of their loved ones on the caskets, fflling the terminal with a chorus of heartbreak.
Mathew Thomas, 53, prioritised the education of his two daughters more than anything. That was why he made sure that his daughter Merin secured admission for MBA in Bengaluru before he returned to Kuwait in February. Merin was yet to join the course when the dreadful news that her father was missing following the Kuwait inferno reached their home at Pandanad in Chengannur on Wednesday. The daily call he made unfailingly back home also did not come that day. As concerned the family was, it also gave them a glimmer of hope that he might have survived the tragedy.
But that proved shortlived as their relatives in Kuwait conffrmed that he was among the dead, said Bavan Thomas, a relative who had come to receive the body at the Kochi airport. The tragedy further deepened when it emerged that the victim’s nephew Shibu Varghese had also fallen prey to the same accident.
Shameer Umarudheen, 33, of Shooranad North in Kollam district, was set to visit his home later this month. Instead, the family received a casket containing his lifeless body. He had been working as a driver in Kuwait for the last ffve years. “He was asleep in his room on the sixth fioor and died inhaling smoke,’’ said Safedu Abdul Rasheed, a relative who had come to the Kochi airport.
Con rmation
For the family of Thomas C. Oommen, 37, of Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta district, Thursday’s newspapers came with the conffrmation of the dreaded news they so badly hoped to avoid.
He was reported missing since the deadly inferno. But his picture published in the day’s newspapers among the list of victims put paid to whatever little hope they had harboured. “We were told that he was dropped back at the building just half-anhour before the ffre by a friend and probably did not get the time to talk to his family a last time,” said Monsy K. J., his relative.