Bodies of 6 women pilgrims killed in Nepal quake reach Assam

The seven women were among 26 people – which included only five men – who had gone in a group on pilgrimage to Nepal, and had checked into a hotel only about two hours before the earthquake struck.

Bodies of six of the seven women pilgrims from Guwahati who were killed in the devastating earthquake in Kathmandu last Saturday arrived here on Wednesday afternoon with hundreds of people gathering at the LGBI Airport here as family members received them. The body of the seventh woman however is yet to be traced. Three persons from Assam – including a woman – continue to be missing.

The seven women were among 26 people – which included only five men – who had gone in a group on pilgrimage to Nepal, and had checked into a hotel only about two hours before the earthquake struck. The hotel in which they had checked in had collapsed within a few seconds. Molan Chandra Nath, a male member of the group had a providential escape as he had come out of the hotel to buy a bottle of mineral water about five minutes before the earthquake struck. Nath said he saw the hotel crumbling in front his eyes.

Grieving relatives of the victims in Guwahati as their bodies were brought on Wednesday.(Source: PTI)

Those whose bodies arrived here on Wednesday afternoon by flight through New Delhi were Rina Das (60), Bhanita Deka (61), Jayashree Bora (60), Bhumika Das (60), Hema Saikia (58) and Kalpana Adhikari (64). Of them the first four belonged to the same locality – Kali Mandir Path in Hengerabari, a locality close to Dispur, while the other two were from another locality called Narikolbari. The body of Padma Mazumdar (63) has not yet been traced.

Assam rural development minister Rakibul Hussain said altogether at least 141 persons from Assam were there in Nepal on the day the earthquake rocked the Himalayan country. Six of them – all women –were killed, while three persons including a woman have remained untraced. Nine other persons were undergoing treatment in different hospitals in Nepal, while two have been admitted in a hospital in Delhi after they were airlifted from Kathmandu on Monday, the minister said.

Twenty-three persons from Assam were still in Nepal but safe, the minister said, while about 100 others have returned, many of them on their own. The Assam government meanwhile has deputed Umesh Kumar, Additional Director General of Police, to proceed to Kathmandu in order to expedite search and safe return of the remaining people from Assam there.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
Nepal earthquake