The mortal remains of 10 people from Tamil Nadu who were killed in the boat tragedy off Vietnam's Phu Quoc island arrived at the Chennai and Coimbatore airports on Tuesday morning.
The bodies, flown from Mumbai after being repatriated from Vietnam, were received by grieving family members amid emotional scenes at the airports.
Of the 15 Indian tourists who died in the accident, 10 were from Tamil Nadu, three from Andhra Pradesh and two from Kerala.
Prabhakaran, a relative of one of the victims, expressed profound grief over the sudden demise of his 49-year-old family member.
Speaking to PTI Videos, he stated that the family was struggling to recover from the tragedy but expressed gratitude that the body was brought home and handed over to them without any procedural hardship.
Prabhakaran thanked the Tamil Nadu government, Chief Minister Joseph C Vijay, TVK's Vellore MLA Vinoth, DIG Santosh Kumar, and an Indian Embassy official in Vietnam for their seamless coordination.
The caskets had arrived at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City on the night of July 13 before being dispatched to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
Senior officials, including Tamil Nadu Police DIG Santosh Kumar and Regional Passport Officer Swapnil Thorat, oversaw the arrival of the caskets at the international cargo terminal in Chennai.
After customs clearance, the caskets were shifted to the domestic cargo facility for onward transportation.
The bodies of the Tamil Nadu victims were flown to Chennai and Coimbatore on multiple early morning flights, while the mortal remains of the victims from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala were sent to Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram, respectively.
According to Vietnamese media reports, 15 Indian tourists were killed when a speedboat carrying 32 Indian tourists and four crew members capsized on Saturday about 400 metres off Hon May Rut Ngoai island in the An Thoi archipelago off the coast of Phu Quoc, the Vietnamese news portal VN Express International reported.
(With inputs PTI)
