The four students were between 20 and 22 years of age, and drowned in the Volga river in Russia on Sunday.
“He was in his final year of medicine and was supposed to finish his studies. It was his dream to become a doctor,” says Mohammad Rafi. The bereaved father was shocked and heartbroken to learn that this dream of his son – Mohamed Ashiq – was cut short too soon. Ashiq was one of the four medical students from Tamil Nadu who drowned in Russia’s Volga river in a tragic accident on Sunday.
His voice visibly choking with emotion in a video, Rafi manages to explain, “He went out with some friends and they drowned. If the government helps us retrieve the body we can do the last rites.”
Four students from various places in Tamil Nadu met this tragic end on Sunday which has left their families back home in shock and despair. Apart from Ashiq, the students who lost their lives are Manoj Anand, R Vignesh, and Stephen Lebaku. They were studying medicine at the Volgograd State Medical University in Russia.
Three of them were 22 years old, while Stephen Lebaku, who is from Chennai, was 20. Vignesh was from Thittakudi in Cuddalore district. Manoj was from Thalaivasal in Salem, and his father works as a police sub-inspector. Ashiq was from Dharapuram.
According to reports, 11 people had gone to the river. One person entered the water, and hearing his cries for help, the other three students tried to help him. However, all four of them drowned. Anand Kumar, Stephen’s uncle, told The Hindu that the senior students who had accompanied the deceased students informed the Russian emergency services immediately after the incident who came and checked around 3 am on Sunday.
Stephen’s father, Mohan Kumar Lebaku, said that they had been talking to the Indian embassy in Russia, and have also appealed to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi Palaniswami. He added that the college administration has to take measures to appoint a funeral agent who will collect the death certificates and arrange for flights for the students’ mortal remains to be transported back.
R Vignesh too has left behind a grieving family. His father reportedly works in Dubai, and his mother Amutha back in Thittakudi is distraught. His sister studies in Coimbatore. According to reports, Vignesh’s family will visit Cuddalore Collector Chandra Sekhar Sakhamuri on Monday to ask for the government’s help in get Vignesh’s body back home.
Vignesh’s cousin, Sarath told TOI that it was Vignesh’s passion for studying medicine that took him to Russia, for he did not mind staying in a foreign land to learn medicine. “But we never thought that he’ll never return,” Sarath said.
A Anandhan, sub-inspector and father of Manoj, reportedly met the CM with similar request to bring his son’s body home as well as to enquire what really happened that led to their deaths.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, meanwhile, assured the families that necessary arrangements will be made.
Source: The News Minute