The bodies of the four medical students who died by drowning in Russia were handed over to their families on Friday. The four students were from Tamil Nadu and had drowned in the Volga river in Russia on August 8.
According to reports, their bodies arrived at Chennai in a cargo flight on Friday and their families were at the airport to receive the bodies. BJP State President L Murugan was reportedly at the airport when the flight arrived.
On August 8, 11 students including Manoj Anand (22), R Vignesh (22), Ashiq (22) and Stephen Lebaku (20), had reportedly gone for a walk near the river, when one of them slipped and fell into the river. When the others tried to help their drowning friend, they all got pulled into the river and lost their lives. The senior students who were in the group reportedly alerted the Russian Emergency Services immediately.
All four students who drowned were studying medicine at the Volgograd State Medical University in Russia. Ashiq, Manoj and Vignesh were months away from completing their MD degree while Stephen was in his second year of the programme. While Ashiq hailed from Dharapuram (Tiruppur district), Manoj Anand was from Thalaivasal (Salem district). Vignesh was from Thittakkudi (Cuddalore district) and Stephen was from Chennai.
The families had earlier requested the state government to help them bring the mortal remains of their beloved ones back to their homes and the Chief Minister had assured them that the necessary arrangements will be made to facilitate the transfer. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had also contacted the families and assured them that all steps are being taken to bring back the bodies to Tamil Nadu. The representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs were also in constant touch with the families to update them on the progress.
The government of Tamil Nadu has provided the families with separate hearses to carry the bodies back to their native towns.