Missing Kashmiri MBBS student’s another uncle dies

SRINAGAR: The family of Suhail Aijaz, 20, a Kashmiri MBBS student missing from Odisha since February 9, has lost two members in the past two days.

Another uncle of Suhail succumbed to his injuries on Monday morning after one of his uncles died instantly in a car accident on Sunday, while his father was injured. Suhail’s uncles (paternal) had gone in the car to Jammu to pick up his father, Aijaz Ahmad Kataria, 45, who was returning from Odisha after failing to locate him, according to family members. Suhail’s uncle Liyaqat Ali Khan, 55, was driving the car when he lost control of the vehicle in Handwara’s Unsoo and rammed into a tree, said police. Liyaqat was killed in the accident, while his younger brother Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, 45, and Kataria were admitted in a hospital in Srinagar. “Mushtaq uncle succumbed to his injuries this morning,” said Arif Ahmad, a cousin of the missing student.

Kataria, a schoolteacher, is still in hospital. Arif said that the health of Kataria was also not in good shape. “He has not talked to anybody yet. We are very worried,” he said.

The Khans and Kataria were heading home to Kupwara, some 400 km from Jammu, when the accident occurred. A second-year student of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, Suhail left his hostel on February 9 afternoon after telling his friends he was going to attend a friend’s wedding in Chandigarh, according to Odisha police. He told them he would return by February 16.