Surat tourists among those stranded

Pradeep Modi,a retired civil engineer with State government irrigation department,was under tension on Saturday afternoon after he came to know that his daughter Dr. Ami Dasondi (32) with her husband Dr. Milan Dasondi (33) and their son Priyank (9),all residents of Adajan area in Surat,were among 130 tourists who were held hostage in Lakshadweep.

The Modi family kept their eyes on television sets to know whether they were safe. Later,at around 3.30 am they came to know that all the hostages were freed after Lakshadweep government took interest.

Pradeep Modi had talks with his daughter and son-in-law at 1.00 am and got to know they were safe.

Dr Milan is working as doctor in homeopathic hospital in Navsari while his wife is a doctor in Ayurvedic hospital at Olpad in Surat district.

The couple had left for Lakshadweep just four days ago with their friends staying in Ahmedabad and Vadodara.

“For whole evening,we prayed to God for their safe release. The tourists were held hostages by 500 locals over there. We came to know about the incident through our common friend who resides in Ahmedabad. We are happy that the tourists were released. My daughter called me at 3.40 am and told us that they were safe and nothing to worry. They had made arrangements through Kerala tourism to visit Lakshadweep islands,” Pradeep Modi said.

“At present my daughter’s family is in Adel Kalbani island with other hostages. They were not given proper place to seat and even there was heavy down pour. We came to know that the locals were having conflicts with the tourism department over there as a result of which they took tourists on their task and held them hostages,” he added.

Another family Vinod Patel (56) and his wife Milan Patel (47),both residents of Jadeshar Chokdi area in Bharuch,were also among the 130 hostages.

Vinod runs engineering workshop nearby his house while his wife Milan is professor in J P Arts and Science College in Bharuch.

A relative of Patel,Yogesh in Bharuch said,“They were safe. They will return back on November 10.”