Nepal tragedy: Tearful adieu bid to victims of asphyxiation in hotel room

Kochi: Amidst outpouring of grief and heart-rending scenes, the mortal remains of five members of a family who died of suspected asphyxiation in a resort in Nepal were laid to rest in the compound of their house on Friday morning.

The bodies of Praveen Krishnan Nair (39), his wife Sarnaya (34) and their three children Sreebhadra, 9, Aarcha, 8, and Abhinav, 7 arrived at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport at midnight Thursday and taken to their native place, Chengottukonam, by 8.30 am.

The last rites, planned for 9 am, were delayed as hundreds of people lined up to pay their last respects to the family. The bodies were kept in the courtyard of the house for the public to pay last respects. Police and relatives of the family found it tough to handle the crowd.

A number of the family’s relatives, friends and political and social activists were waiting at Praveen Nair’s house from early morning to pay their last respects to the departed family.

The bodies of Praveen and Saranya were cremated while the children were interred in a single grave. It was Saranya’s sister’s three-year-old son who performed the funeral rituals.

Meanwhile, the bodies of three others who died in the Nepal tragedy, Ranjith, his wife Indulakshmi and son, were brought to their home town of Kozhikode from New Delhi by 12 noon. Their bodies were set to be cremated in the evening at Ranjith’s ancestral house at Kunnamangalam. Madhav, the couple’s elder son, who had a lucky escape as he was sleeping in another room, was brought to his home on Thursday.