FlyDubai crash leaves family of Kerala couple shell-shocked

Kochi, Mar 20: They were huddled in front of the TV hoping against anguished hope, watching the rescue team in Russia sifting through the plane wreckage. Until the names of their kin flashed on the screen, as the two Indians who died in the crash.

Some of them were too shocked to react, some broke into tears, one of them fainted.

Little did members of the Chamakkala House in Perumbavur know that the celebratory goodbye that their son, Mohan Shyam made while for Russia with his wife Anju Kathivel Ayyappan would plunge them into mourning so swiftly.

The newly-wed couple lost their lives when their FlyDubai flight crashed in the Southern Russia city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday.

"Shyam and Anju were seen off from the airport only on Thursday night and in less than 48 hours, we are at their home to mourn their death'', Raghunath, Shyam's uncle said.

Shyam, 27 and Anju, 27 have been in Russia, where Anju used to work as a Panchakarma nurse in an ayurvedic clinic. Married on November 2, 2014, they had been in Kerala for a two-month long vacation. The couple left for Russia on Thursday night from Nedumbassery airport to Dubai, from where they boarded the ill-fated carrier in the wee hours of Saturday.

Anju, who began her career as an Ayurveda nurse in New Delhi, had been working in Russia for the last four years. Shyam Mohan, who pursued a physiotherapy course after the marriage, joined his wife last year.

Shyam's father Mohan is a carpenter and mother Sheeja a house wife at Vengola village near Perumbavoor. Anju, daughter of the late Kathirvelil Ayyappan, was a native of Panichiyam in Kottappadi near here. She is survived by mother Geetha and brother Ajith.

The victims' family has contacted the External Affairs Ministry through the Government of Kerala, and efforts are on to bring back their remains. The Boeing 737 had 55 passengers and seven crew members on board. No one survived.