Tearful adieu to 8 Kerala tourists who died in Nepal resort

: Amid heart-rending scenes, the mortal remains of eight tourists from Kerala, who died following possible asphyxiation in their room at a mountainous resort in Nepal, were laid to rest on Friday.

While the bodies of Praveen Nair and his wife Saranya were cremated, their three children--Sree Bhadra (9), Aarcha (7) and Abhinav (4)- were laid to rest in a single burial pit, flanked by the graves of their parents.

Hundreds of sobbing mourners--relatives, friends and neighbours- were among those who queued up with flowers and wreaths to pay their last respects to Praveen Nair, a Dubai- based IT professional, his wife Saranya, a second year M.Pharm student and their children-- students of Saraswathi Vidyaniketan, Kochi.

Three-year old Arav, nephew of Saranya, along with family members, performed the last rites after close relatives, including children, performed the rituals.

After the bodies of the children were buried, the remains of Praveen and Saranya were cremated.

The caskets carrying the five bodies, which reached here past midnight from New Delhi, were taken to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital mortuary and by dawn to Chengottukonam village, bordering Kollam district in five ambulances for the final journey.

The aged parents of Praveen-Krishnan Nair and Prasannakumari- were seen being comforted by family and friends.

By afternoon, the bodies of three others-Ranjit Kumar, his wife Indu and son Vaishnav, were broght to their unfinished home at Mookavoor near Kunnamangalam.

The couple were constructing a new house and were to shift there soon.

Seeing the remains of his parents and brother, Madhav, the only surviving member in the family, broke down.

The six-year-old performed the last rites.

The deceased were among a group of 15 tourists from Kerala who had checked into a resort in Daman, a popular tourist spot in Makawanpur district, some 70 km south of Kathmandu.

Praveen and Ranjit, both IT professionals, were engineering college classmates and the tour was arranged after a get-together with old friends in Delhi.