Chandigarh: The mortal remains of 38 Indians, out of the 39 killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, arrived on a special plane on Monday at the Amritsar International Airport amid emotional scenes.
Relatives of the deceased received the bodies with teary eyes around 2.30 pm and some victims, including Sonu from a village in Amritsar, were cremated soon after.
An air of gloom descended as distraught families looked at the caskets brought back from Baghdad by minister of state for external V.K. Singh. While the remains of the 31 men belonging to Punjab and Himachal Pradesh were received in Amritsar, the rest were flown to Patna and Kolkata for handing them over to their relatives.
“There was no record of these 40 persons in any embassy,” Mr Singh, who had gone to Iraq on Sunday to bring back the mortal remains, said. “They had migrated through illegal agents. When you go through illegal agents then it is difficult to find where one has gone.”
The mortal remains of 38 Indians, out of the 39 killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, arrived on a special plane on Monday at the Amritsar International Airport amid emotional scenes. Relatives of the deceased received the bodies with teary eyes around 2.30 pm and some victims, including Sonu from a village in Amritsar, were cremated soon after.
An air of gloom descended as distraught families looked at the caskets brought back from Baghdad by minister of state for external V.K. Singh. While the remains of the 31 men belonging to Punjab and Himachal Pradesh were received in Amritsar, the rest were flown to Patna and Kolkata for handing them over to their relatives from Bihar and West Bengal. “We are thankful to the authorities in Iraq for the help to locate the victims and exhume the mortal remains.”
Mr Singh, who had gone to Iraq on Sunday to bring back the mortal remains, said,“There was no record of these 40 persons in any embassy. They migrated through illegal agents. When you go through illegal agents then it is difficult
to find where one has gone,” the minister told reporters. He emphasised that both the state and central governments should work collectively to check illegal travel agents.
