Visakhapatnam sailor who died aboard Iranian cargo ship cremated

By: Nalla Babu
VISAKHAPATNAM: While the world was gearing up to usher in the New Year, a pall of gloom descended on Aripaka, 30km from here, as the last rites of a local hero were being performed.Many of Aripaka's residents turned up for the funeral of Pilla Mohan Venkata Appalanaidu (26), popularly known as Venkatesh, hours after his mortal remains reached his family from Iran.

Many of Aripaka's residents turned up for the funeral of Pilla Mohan Venkata Appalanaidu (26), popularly known as Venkatesh, hours after his mortal remains reached his family from Iran. The marine engineering graduate was killed in a fire aboard an Iranian cargo vessel in the Iranian port of Asaluyeh on November 24. The body arrived in Hyderabad from Doha, Qatar at 2 am on Monday in a Qatar Airways flight. Venkatesh’s family paid Rs 30,000 for shipping the body from Hyderabad to Aripaka.

As Venkatesh’s body was charred beyond recognition, the coffin in which it was shipped from Shiraz in Iran was kept closed.“I am the unluckiest person in the world as I waited for over a month to see my son’s face, but could not,” said P Bhavani (45), Venkatesh’s mother.

Local political leaders, friends and family members of Venkatesh visited his house in Aripaka on Monday morning and paid floral tributes to the deceased. The body was kept at his house for an hour and was later cremated.

Meanwhile, youth in the village cancelled the New Year celebrations. "We have decided to seek compensation for Venkatesh’s untimely demise and demand his salary, which has not been paid for six months, from the shipping company. We will take legal advice on suing the agent who had sent Venkatesh to Iran and the management of the shipping company," said Venkatesh’s uncle B Suryaprakash.