The weekend holiday mood in Tiruchy turned to gloom on Sunday as news poured in of the death of eight prominent builders of the city, including Builders Association of India Tiruchy Chapter president M. Manimaran.
The builders were among 19 people who died when their flight to view Mt Everest ended in a crash in the Kotdanda village area in Lalitpur, about 20 km away from Kathma-ndu. “The death of eight leading builders is a great loss to Tiruchy. I was devastated,” said N. Siva, DMK Rajya Sabha member from Tiruchy.
Siva said he knew all the eight builders well, adding that Kattur S. Mahalingam was his college-mate.
“I am leaving for Kathmandu along with their relatives tonight to make arrangements for bringing their bodies to Tiruchy,” he said.
The Tamil Nadu state government has arranged a special flight for the relatives of the deceased from Chennai to New Delhi to help them reach Kathmandu, sources said.
AIADMK MP P. Kumar, representing Tiruchy Lok Sabha, A. Ashokan, special representative of the Tamil Nadu government in New Delhi, and eight relatives of the deceased, left Tiruchy for Chennai in Jet Airways flight on Sunday night and will head for New Delhi in a special flight, official sources said. Earlier, state minister Sivapathi, accompanied by MP P. Kumar and MLA Manoharan, visited the families of the bereaved.
“Kattur S. Mahalingam rose to this position by sheer hard work. A native of Kattur near Lalgudi, he started was a film distributor and later became a builder,” said S.Babu, auditor, Tiruchy.