THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Eight Keralites, including four children, holidaying in Nepal met with a tragic end due to suspected asphyxiation after the heater in their suite room at a hill resort in Daman, located 80km from capital Kathmandu, reportedly leaked carbon monoxide on Monday night.
The eight victims belonging to two families, one from Chenkottukonam in Thiruvananthapuram and the other from Thalikunnu near Kunnamangalam in Kozhikode, were part of a 15-member group that had stopped over at the hill station on the way back to Kathmandu after visiting Pokhara, a famous Himalayan tourist destination.
The two families stayed in a large suite room, while the rest of the group members were staying in adjacent rooms. The resort staff called police on Tuesday morning after they found the tourists lying unconscious in the room. The eight were airlifted to Hams Hospital in Kathmandu, where the doctors declared them brought dead.
The deceased have been identified as Praveen Krishnan Nair, 39, of Chenkottukonam, wife Saranya, 34 and their children Sreebhadra, 9, Aarcha, 8, and Abhinav, 3, and Praveen’s friend Ranjith Kumar T B, 39, of Thalikunnu, wife Indu, 34 and their younger son Vaishnav, 2. Ranjith’s elder son Madhav stayed in another room overnight and was the lone survivor in the family.
Nepal’s Makwanpur district police Superintendent Sushil Singh Rathaur said the use of heater in the room could have led to suffocation. The resort manager said the tourists had booked four rooms, but eight of them chose to stay in a room. “Since it was chilly, the tourists had turned on a gas heater. The windows and door of the room were bolted from inside,” a resort official said.
Bodies to be flown in tomorrow
Praveen worked as an engineer in Dubai, while his wife was doing postgraduation in a paramedical subject in Ernakulam. The family was currently staying in Ernakulam.
Ranjith was employed with an IT firm in Technopark here. Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy in a statement said they have deployed their official doctor in the hospital. The doctor will monitor the autopsy and other medical procedures to be held on Wednesday. The bodies will be flown to Kerala on Thursday’s Air India flight.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan requested the intervention of Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to render all possible assistance to the families of the deceased. On his instruction, Norka officials are liaising with the Indian Embassy officials in Kathmandu. State Police Chief Loknath Behera also got in touch with the Nepal police to expedite medical and police formalities.
Tragedy leaves 7-year-old Madhav an orphan: When parents Ranjith Kumar and Indu and two-year old brother Vaishnav suffocated to death at the resort, Madhav, 7, became the lone member in the family of four to survive.