Indian missing after Turkey quake found dead
DEHRADUN: The body of an Indian man, reported missing in southeastern Turkey following the February 6 earthquake, was found under the rubble of his hotel, Indian authorities said on Saturday.
Vijay Kumar, 35, was a resident of Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand and had been sent by his employer, a gas plant installation firm based in Bengaluru, to do some work on a gas plant in the Turkish city of Malatya, which was extensively affected by the quake.
“We inform with sorrow that the mortal remains of Shri Vijay Kumar, an Indian national missing in Turkiye since February 6 earthquake, have been found and identified among the debris of a hotel in Malatya, where he was on a business trip,” the Indian embassy in Ankara tweeted.
Kumar was reportedly asleep within the multi-storey hotel when the earthquake hit the city early on
February 6. His passport and belongings were earlier found in the rubble of the building.
Kumar’s elder brother, Arun Kumar, said he wasn’t supposed to be in Turkey on that day.
“The installation of the oxygen plant in the company was scheduled to be carried out a few months ago. However, it got delayed due to some reasons. Only fate is to be blamed for his death,” said Arun, who works in the same company. “I convinced him to join my company, so we can work together,” he added.
Vijay Kumar is survived by his wife Pinky Gaur and their 6-yearold son Siddharth. “His wife has been unconscious since she got the news of Vijay’s death.”
“We spoke to him through video calls everyday, till the night of the earthquake. We were hopeful of seeing him alive till Saturday afternoon, when his body was recovered from the rubble,” he added. “Our father, Ramesh Chand, died due to cardiac arrest in December last year. My mother says she doesn’t want to live now.”
There were no other reports of Indian casualties in the quake. A handful of Indians were stuck in a difficult situation immediately after the quake, though they were safe. There are 3,000 Indians in Turkey, with 1,850 in and around Istanbul, 250 in Ankara and the rest spread across the country.
India has sent a contingent of more than 250 personnel, including search and rescue teams from the National Disaster Response Force and a 99-member field hospital team from the Army, to Turkey. It has also airlifted more than 130 tonnes of equipment and relief materials to help the victims of the quake.