Chennai: The bodies of five workers from Tamil Nadu killed in a factory mishap in Ethiopia were on Monday brought to the Chennai airport.
On Friday, six workers, five from Tamil Nadu and one from Kerala, were killed in a boiler accident at a sugar factory. On Saturday evening, information was sent out to the victims’ families about the mishap and that the bodies will reach Chennai on Monday. Around 8 am, a cargo flight carrying the bodies of the five victims, V. Muruganandham, 27, Muthukrishnan, 42, both belonging to Thanjavur, M. Velraj, 29, of Mayiladuthurai, Devaraj, 40, of Tiruvarur, and Devendran, 34, of Cuddalore, was sent via Dubai and Hong Kong and landed at Chennai old airport.
At the airport, there was a standoff between their friends and relatives and representative of the Mumbai based agency that had recruited them. The relatives claimed that unless salary arrears for the past nine months and compensation were paid, they wouldn’t accept the bodies.
Despite the promise of an initial compensation of Rs 50,000 and representation to the Indian government to press the issue with its Ethiopian counterpart, the relatives refused to budge. Later in the evening, after a written representation to minister for housing and urban development R. Vaithilingam, they agreed to make arrangements to transport the deceased back home.
Mr R. Kannan, a friend of Velraj, said his family had already suffered bereavement with the death of his younger brother. Demanding an investigation into the Ethiopian incident, he also called for government help for the victims’ families. “They were treated as bonded labourers. Steps should be taken to clear their arrears and award compensation,” he said.
According to Mr Venkatramanan, Muruganandham’s relative, the workers were initially taken to Ethiopia on a 3-month visa, which was extended thrice. He said, “Recently, their visas expired and they couldn’t return back home despite suffering in a harsh work environment. Our pleas to the Mumbai agency also went unheeded.” He appealed to the Centre to help the remaining workers from the state return.
