The Hindu : Karnataka News : Bodies of 26 tourists recovered

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 28, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Bodies of 26 tourists recovered

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, DEC. 27. The bodies of 26 tourists from Karnataka who were killed in Sunday's tsunami disaster in Tamil Nadu have been recovered. Seven more from the State are feared killed in the tragedy, according to reports here on Monday.

Most of the victims and those reported missing are from Bangalore.

As the State Government had not set up a helpline, anxious relatives of those on a tour of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry were unable to gather information about the missing people.

Neither the city police control room nor the State police control room had any information about the tragedy. "We have not set up a helpline as there is no flow of information," the Bangalore Commissioner of Police, S. Mariswamy, said.

There was a pall of gloom at the house of Gopal, a retired tax inspector of Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, on DVG Road in Basavanagudi. Twelve of his relatives left Bangalore on December 23 on a tour of Tamil Nadu.

While viewing the sunrise at Velankanni beach near Nagapattinam, three of them, Ambika, Arun and Bhagyalakshmi, were washed away. Nandini, Harish, Nagarathna, Sandeep and Hemanth of the group went missing after being hit by a huge tidal wave.

Mr. Gopal told The Hindu that the dead and those missing were aged 22 to 25. "Those who had gone on the tour are from families of my brothers and sisters living on DVG Road, Kanakanapalya and Prashanthnagar," he said.

When this correspondent visited Mr. Gopal's house in the evening, his anxious relatives were seen reading evening dailies and watching television to know the latest situation, as no reports were available through official channels here.

Jayakanth, 32, and his relatives, Shantha, 47, Roopini, 16, Thimmamma, 70, Sarojamma, 48, Padmamma, 41 and Parvathamma, 34, all from Kundanahalli, off Marathalli, Bangalore also died on the Velankanni beach.

Eight people from two families in Kengeri were washed away on Silver Beach in Cuddalore. Their names were given as Lalitha, 35, Madan, 13, Gowramma, 60, Prema, 45, Shiva Kumar, 37, Jyothi, 30, Kanchan, 6, and Kempamma, 65. Nagaraju, 42, and Arpitha, 11, of this group are missing.

Nagaraju and Shiva Kumar were employees of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company here. Nagaraju's wife and children used to live at his native village, Halasahalli, in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district.

Shashidhar Udupa, 44, from Sadashivanagar, Bangalore, and his wife, Geetha Udupa, 39, and Sandhya Patil, 36, from Hubli and her son, Shreyas, 15, also died at Silver Beach. Pranav, 15, son of the Udupas, and Vasudeva Patil, husband of Sandhya, escaped. The last rites of the Udupas were performed here on Monday.

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