Most Sudan blast victims are from T.N., U.P., Bihar: embassy.

Source – thehindu.com

Most of the Indians hospitalised or reported missing after the LPG tanker blast at a ceramics factory in Sudan belonged to Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and authorities are trying to ascertain the identities of the victims, officials said on Thursday.

The Indian Embassy has issued a detailed list of the Indians who were reported missing, hospitalised, or survived the blast at the Seela Ceramic Factory in the Bahri area in Khartoum on Tuesday that killed at least 23 people. Eighteen Indians were among the dead.

“Six have been identified and the Embassy is contacting families in India to send back their mortal remains,” the Indian mission tweeted.

It said efforts are on to identify other victims. “The bodies have burnt beyond recognition. We are trying to establish their identity,” an Indian official told PTI over phone from Khartoum. The official said one more person died on Thursday and identified the victim as Niraj Kumar Singh from Bihar.

More than 130 people were injured. Seven Indians have been hospitalised and 16 still missing.

Among those missing are Ramakrishanan and Venkatachalem from Tamil Nadu; Ram Kumar, Amit Tiwari and Nitish Mishra from Bihar, Jishan Khan, Mohit Kumar, Hari Nath and Pradeep Verma from Uttar Pradesh, and Pawan and Pradeep from Haryana.

Intezar Khan from Delhi, Bahadurbhai Somabhai Pagi from Gujarat and Rajasthan’s Jaideep are also reported missing.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said 60 Indians were employed in the factory and 53 of them were understood to be present at the factory and the residential area at the time of the accident. “We are working with the Sudanese authorities to facilitate the identification of the deceased at the earliest,” he said, expressing his grief.