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The Indian embassy in Ankara confirmed on Saturday that the body of Uttarakhand engineer Vijay Kumar was dug out from under the debris of the four-star Avsar Hotel Malatya city where the father of two had been staying after landing in Turkiye on January 23, 2023, for a project assigned to his Bangalore-based firm Oxyplants. Oxyplants had initially asked a Bangalore engineer to go to Turkiye for the project. But Kumar was eager to take on the assignment and requested that he be sent instead.
“…the mortal remains of Shri Vijay Kumar, an Indian national missing in Turkiye since February 6 earthquake, have been found and identified among the debris of a hotel in Malatya, where he was on a business trip,” the Indian embassy tweeted. “Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. We are making arrangements for the earliest possible transportation of his mortal remains to his family,” the embassy added.
Embassy officials had been monitoring rescue efforts in Malatya city — in the eastern Anatolia region — hoping to find Kumar alive.
On Friday morning, rescuers searching the 66-room Avsar Hotel that was reduced to rubble found his passport and bags, raising hopes among family and friends in Uttarakhand and Bengaluru that Kumar could be alive.
“On Saturday afternoon we got the devastating news that Vijay Kumar’s mangled body was found under the rubble of the structure that had sunk three feet under after the quake. His elder brother identified the body from a tattoo on the left arm from photographs sent by the Indian authorities,” Ramesh Siddappa, managing director of Oxyplants, told TOI.
Kumar had volunteered for the trip while working from home in Uttarakhand. He arrived in Bengaluru in the first week of January for training. He was to return mid-February.
“…the mortal remains of Shri Vijay Kumar, an Indian national missing in Turkiye since February 6 earthquake, have been found and identified among the debris of a hotel in Malatya, where he was on a business trip,” the Indian embassy tweeted. “Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. We are making arrangements for the earliest possible transportation of his mortal remains to his family,” the embassy added.
Embassy officials had been monitoring rescue efforts in Malatya city — in the eastern Anatolia region — hoping to find Kumar alive.
On Friday morning, rescuers searching the 66-room Avsar Hotel that was reduced to rubble found his passport and bags, raising hopes among family and friends in Uttarakhand and Bengaluru that Kumar could be alive.
“On Saturday afternoon we got the devastating news that Vijay Kumar’s mangled body was found under the rubble of the structure that had sunk three feet under after the quake. His elder brother identified the body from a tattoo on the left arm from photographs sent by the Indian authorities,” Ramesh Siddappa, managing director of Oxyplants, told TOI.
Kumar had volunteered for the trip while working from home in Uttarakhand. He arrived in Bengaluru in the first week of January for training. He was to return mid-February.
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