SALEM/TRICHY/MADURAI: At least 15 Indian tourists were killed and 17 injured after a speedboat carrying 32 Indian passengers and four crew capsized less than 500m off Vietnam’s Hon May Rut Ngoai island, close to Phu Quoc, around 1pm on Saturday.Ten of them were from Tamil Nadu; some businessmen, others agents of a cellphone company on a sponsored tour.
The deceased were identified as Balaji Natesan, Alagurajan Sivasamy and Shaik Abdullah from Trichy, Santhosh Kumar from Chennai, Sridhar Sundararajan from Salem, Senthil Kumar Jayavel from Dharmapuri, Ravisankar Sugumaran from Tiruvannamalai, Vinaya Kumar from Vellore, Muruga Prabhu from Dindigul and Babu Kuppuswamy from Tiruvallur.Chief minister C Joseph Vijay expressed grief over the accident and deputed Santosh Hadimani IPS, (DIG Salem) to Ho Chi Minh City to expedite repatriation of the mortal remains of the deceased, in coordination with the Embassy authorities in Vietnam.N Sridhar, 60, a wholesale phone dealer, travelled with friends to Vietnam on July 8. He leaves behind his wife Jayanthi, son Karthi who is in Australia, and daughter Harini who is in Scotland.Senthil Kumar was a Lava mobile dealer in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts. He ran an aluminium factory in Kadathur and an RO system agency in Dharmapuri. He is survived by his wife Poovizhi, 40, and daughter Logasri, 7. His father Jayavel, a retired sub-inspector, told reporters that his son was reluctant to join the trip, but his company insisted. “Fate took my son’s life,” he said.Condolences pour in from political leadersAt Alagurajan’s residence, grief overwhelmed the family as relatives struggled to come to terms with the tragedy.Shaik Abdullah, a businessman, is survived by his wife and two children. His family said that he had initially been reluctant to join the trip and wanted his son to travel instead. “But perhaps fate had other plans,” a family member said. Muruga Prabhu, 43, is survived by his wife and their eight-year-old daughter.DMK president M K Stalin said he was deeply saddened to learn of the tragedy. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami urged Union and state govts to coordinate with Vietnam to bring back bodies of the deceased and ensure treatment for the injured. TNCC president Manickam Tagore said the news that most of the victims were Tamils had caused profound shock and grief. BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss and AMMKgeneralsecretaryTTVDhinakaranalso expressed condolences to the bereaved families.
