THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Participants of the open forum of Loka Kerala Sabha on Friday were in for a rude shock when a youth made an unusual request to chief guest M A Yusuffali. Abin, 19, hailing from Karakulam wanted the businessman to help him bring back the body of his father who met with an accident in Saudi Arabia on June 9. The deadpan voice of Abin, who wore an arm sling, brought everything to a standstill.
A visibly moved Yusuffali contacted his manager in Saudi Arabia and asked him to facilitate the airlifting of the body at the earliest. There was pindrop silence at the venue as the participants listened to Ali on the dais speaking to his deputy over a mobile phone on speaker mode. After ending the conversation he publicly assured the youth that it would be his responsibility to bring the body home at the earliest. A few claps followed even as the youth stood blank-faced. Abin had to use a sling following an injury in a recent bike accident.
Abin’s father Babu, 46, was working in Khamis Mushait city in Saudi Arabia for the past eleven years under a sponsor named Mohammed. The family last spoke to him through an IMO call on June 9. He could not be contacted the next day onwards.
On June 12, Babu’s friend Ani here received a phone call that Babu died after falling from a height at his work site. When the family contacted the sponsor, he said Babu had not been working with him for the past two years and that he cannot help in transporting the body. The body is kept at a hospital in the city of Khamis Mushait.