Kochi: It is 48 days since they learned about the tragic death of their son in a mishap in Saudi Arabia but Kalamassery native S. Vijayakumar and his wife now have a single prayer – to get back the body of the youth so they can conduct the last rites! Karthikeyan V.S., who was an employee of the Jeddah-based Al Jazeera Ford Vehicles died in a mishap on June 4 and his body has been kept at the mortuary of the Abha Private Hospital, nearly 900 kms from Riyad.
“Saudi law states that procedures in such cases should be completed in 15 days, however, in our case we are not sure if we will even see his body again. We lost every hope with his death and now the only desire is to do his last rites. For this we have gone from pillar to post, pleading with all concerned to intervene in the case. But it is close to 50 days now and there is no information,” rues Vijayakumar, a resident of Changampuzha Nagar, Trikkakkara North Village, Kalmassery.
When contacted, Bhooshan V, Chief Executive Officer, NORKA-ROOTS, said the department would intervene in the case and see that the body was brought back at the earliest. The family had received a communication from the Indian Embassy in Riyad on July 8 that it had forwarded the application to the Indian Consulate in Jeddah.
“It was the only communication we received. Nobody contacted us from the company he was working with. We were told by his (Karthikeyan) friends that the company delayed in submitting the relevant documents which resulted in the crisis,” he said. The tragic mishap occurred just four days before his engagement for which he was due to fly back home. Karthikeyan was the sole breadwinner for his family.
