Dubai: Their children are dead. And they can’t even cremate them. “We now know that there are no proper remains,” Prasanth K.V. told Gulf News
He is Shyam Mohan and Anju’s brother-in-law, the young Indian couple who were working as ayurvedic masseuses at a spa in Rostov-on-Don and died in the plane crash early Saturday morning.
Speaking to the newspaper from the family home in Perumbavoor, Kerala, he said that health officials from the Ernakulam District Collector’s office had collected blood samples from Mohan’s parents and Anju’s mother and brother on Sunday, at around 9pm.
“The blood samples were sent to New Delhi yesterday and from there to Rostov-on-Don in Russia, to match the DNA, for the identification of the remains.”
He said that Mohan’s mother Sreeja started developing chest pain after the samples were collected and rushed to hospital, where she is still under observation.
She had initially collapsed on Saturday and released on Sunday. At that point, his sister Soumya, who is married to Prasanth, too, had to be admitted as her blood pressure dropped. But, she is doing fine now.
Shyam’s ailing father Mohan, who suffered a stroke three years ago, appears to have coped with the news of his son’s and daughter-in-law’s death.
“He has limited ability to communicate and seems to have understood what happened. However, nobody’s state of mind is as bad as Anju’s mother, Geeta. She just refuses to accept her daughter will never return. She keeps expecting her to walk in through the door. No parent should have to do the last rites for their child.”
Prasanth said that they had been informed the Collectorate would collect blood samples, again, so the Indian authorities could conduct an independent DNA match test at a “facility in Hyderabad”.
The family is now waiting to hear from Russia, especially about the remains of Shyam Mohan and Anju.
“The managing director of the spa that Shyam and Anju worked at was travelling. He is supposed to be back. We hope to hear from him and get a better idea.”
