Hundreds of people arrived at Chenkottukonam on the Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram border on Friday, 24 January, to pay last respects to Dubai-based engineer Praveen Nair his wife Saranya and their three children.
They were put to rest in their house’s backyard, as the family ‘wanted to keep them close.’
Nine-year-old Sree Bhadra, seven-year-old Archa and four-year-old Abhinav were buried between two funeral pyres – their father on one side, and their mother Saranya on the other.
The bodies of Nair’s family was first brought to New Delhi from Kathmandu on Thursday and then airlifted to Thiruvananthapuram.
The family, along with three others – Renjith, his wife Indu, and two-year-old son – had likely died of asphyxiation in their room at a mountainous resort in Nepal.
Ministers, Public Mourn the Loss
Former minister Oommen Chandy, Kerala Health Minister K K Shylaja paid a visit to Praveen Nair’s parents, Krishnan Nair and Prasannakumari, who were inconsolable.
Initially, Nair’s parents were informed of the accident but not of their death as they are heart patients. It was several hours later that relatives and friends gathered the courage to break the news to them.
Nair and his family had visited his parents’ home last during Onam in 2019 and the family had planned to visit them again at the end of January.
Nair was quite popular in the neighbourhood and was an active participant in all the local festivals.
The students and teachers of the Kochi school where the three children were studying, paid floral tributes to the framed photographs after the school assembly on Thursday morning. Several of them even came to pay last respects on Friday.
The mortal remains of Renjith and his family are expected to be airlifted from New Delhi to Kozhikode on Friday morning.
Their six-year-old son Madhav’s life was spared since he was sleeping in a different room. He is now with his family in his hometown but has not been informed of the death yet.
Praveen and Renjith were friends from their engineering college days and had arranged a tour with old friends in Delhi. However, the vacation ended in tragedy after they were found dead in a hotel room in Nepal.
Committee to Investigate Cause of Death
Meanwhile, Nepal's Department of Tourism has formed a five-member committee to investigate if there were any lapses in the safety of tourists by the resort administration. The committee is required to submit the report within 15 days.
Friends who had travelled with the two couples have also called this a clear case of negligence on the part of the hotel. They had alleged that an outdoor gas heater shouldn’t have been allowed to be used inside a confined space, with poor ventilation.
The post-mortem reports are awaited.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)