CHENNAI: As many as 10 people from Tamil Nadu were among those killed after a tourist boat carrying business associates of Lava International capsized off Hon May Rut Ngoai Island in Vietnam on Saturday.
According to reports, a total of 58, mostly dealers and distributors of Lava International (mobile phone maker) were on a company-sponsored trip to Vietnam. While some tourists had already disembarked on the island before the mishap, those who remained on board died when the boat overturned.
While three of the deceased were from Tiruchy, the other seven were from Chennai, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Dindigul, Salem, and Dharmapuri.
The deceased from Tamil Nadu have been identified as Senthil Kumar Jayavel, Murugaprabhu Arumugam, Sridhar Sundararajan, Shaik Abdullah, Balaji Natesan, Vinaya Kumar, Ravisankar Sugumaran, Santhosh Kumar, Babu Kuppuswamy and Alagurajan Sivasamy. The group left for Vietnam on July 8 and was scheduled to return on Monday.
Vijay sends DIG to speed up repatriation of mortal remains
Preliminary information suggests that among them, the deceased from Tiruchy were identified as N Balaji (45) of Thiruvanaikoil, S Alagurajan (38) of E Pudur, and A Shaik Abdullah (55) of Beema Nagar. A relative of Shaik Abdullah said, “He is survived by his wife and son. He was not very keen on going for the trip initially but accepted the offer. His sudden death has left the family devastated.” Alagurajan was employed as an assistant senior manager with the company.
M Murugaprabhu (44), a resident of Palani in Dindigul, ran a mobile phone business and was a Lava distributor. His business partner, K. Nirmalkumar (42), who had been associated with him for several years, survived the accident as he was travelling in another boat.
The Vietnam trip had been sponsored by Lava in recognition of outstanding performance of its distributors. Another victim, Senthil Kumar (44) from Kadathur in Dharmapuri, owned a business and was a Lava mobile phone dealer. S. Sridhar (62), a Lava mobile phones distributor operates from his Fairlands office in Salem.
He was residing at Hasthampatti with his wife, Jayanthi. The couple have a son and a daughter, both employed abroad. B Vinay Kumar (45), a distributor from Vellore, is survived by his wife Jayanthi and daughter Ananya. As per his family, he was supposed to return to his home town tomorrow. The deceased also include Santhosh Kumar (47) of Chennai and Babu (52) of Kottakarai in Gummidipoondi, Tiruvallur.
Commissioner for Rehabilitation and Welfare of Non-Resident Tamils S Sadheesh told TNIE, “We have sent a special request to expedite the procedures. We expect the bodies to reach the Indian Embassy within a day or two, following which the remaining formalities for their repatriation will be completed.”
Later on Saturday evening, CM Joseph C Vijay expressed grief over the tragedy and directed officials to provide all possible assistance to affected families. He reviewed the situation and has deputed Thiru Santosh Hadimani IPS, (DIG Salem) to rush to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to expedite the repatriation of mortal remains of the deceased and to facilitate the treatment of those affected.