Sudan tanker blast: Mortal remains of 3 victims repatriated to India

The mortal remains of three Indian victims, who died in the tragic LPG tanker blast at a ceramic factory in Sudan, have been repatriated to Delhi and Chennai, the Indian Embassy in Khartoum said on Thursday.

"Mortal remains of 3 Indian victims of Seela Ceramics fire accident in Khartoum dispatched by yesterday's Emirates Airlines i.e. Mohit Kumar to Delhi and Ramakrishanan Ramalingam and Jayakumar Selvaraju to Chennai," said a tweet from the embassy.

"It was an unfortunate incident. 58 Indian workers were working at the factory in Sudan. Six Indian workers were killed in the incident. Eight Indians are in hospital and 11 people are unidentified or missing. 33 Indians are safe," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had told reporters in a weekly briefing earlier this month.

The explosion occurred while a gas tanker was unloading its cargo at the factory, as per a statement by Sudan's Council of Ministers, as cited by Xinhua news agency. The blast also injured 130 others.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed his anguish over the tragedy while External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the Indian embassy in Sudan set up a 24-hour emergency hotline.