Kolkata: The family of a former Union minister who died in an air crash four decades ago were in agony this evening, fearing a repeat of the tragedy.
Canadian-Indian Muktesh Mukherjee, the 42-year-old grandson of Indira Gandhi’s steel and mines minister Mohan Kumaramangalam, was among the 227 passengers on board the Malaysia Airlines flight that has been missing since the early hours today.
Muktesh is the vice-president of operations in China for the Pennsylvania-based XCoal Energy and Resources.
Five Indian citizens too were on the flight, as was Muktesh’s 37-year-old Chinese wife, Xiaomao Bai.
Kumaramangalam was killed on May 30, 1973, when an Indian Airlines flight crashed just before it was to land at New Delhi’s Palam Airport.
“We’re living in fear of a second disaster in the air in our family,” a member of Muktesh’s family said.
Mohan Kumaramangalam’s Dubai-based elder daughter Uma, the mother of Muktesh, left for Beijing early this morning after hearing news of the Malaysia Airlines flight’s disappearance.
The five Indian passengers represented the typical mix of families travelling to visit relatives and professionals flying in connection with their work that constitutes airline manifests around the world.
Vinod Kolekar, 58, was travelling with wife Chetana, 55, and son Swanand, 22, to meet another son, Sanved, who lives and works in Beijing, Indian officials in New Delhi and Kuala Lumpur said.
NGO activists Chandrika Sharma, 51, and Kranti Prahlad Shirshath, 43, were visiting Beijing to catch transit flights.
Sharma, a Chennai resident, was headed to Ulan Bator in Mongolia for a Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) meeting, officials said. Shirshath was headed to Pyongyang in North Korea where he works with a non-profit group that helps tackle natural disasters.
09/03/14 Charu Sudan Kasturi, Sambit Saha, Jhinuk Mazumdar and G.C. Shekhar/The Telegraph
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Canadian-Indian Muktesh Mukherjee, the 42-year-old grandson of Indira Gandhi’s steel and mines minister Mohan Kumaramangalam, was among the 227 passengers on board the Malaysia Airlines flight that has been missing since the early hours today.
Muktesh is the vice-president of operations in China for the Pennsylvania-based XCoal Energy and Resources.
Five Indian citizens too were on the flight, as was Muktesh’s 37-year-old Chinese wife, Xiaomao Bai.
Kumaramangalam was killed on May 30, 1973, when an Indian Airlines flight crashed just before it was to land at New Delhi’s Palam Airport.
“We’re living in fear of a second disaster in the air in our family,” a member of Muktesh’s family said.
Mohan Kumaramangalam’s Dubai-based elder daughter Uma, the mother of Muktesh, left for Beijing early this morning after hearing news of the Malaysia Airlines flight’s disappearance.
The five Indian passengers represented the typical mix of families travelling to visit relatives and professionals flying in connection with their work that constitutes airline manifests around the world.
Vinod Kolekar, 58, was travelling with wife Chetana, 55, and son Swanand, 22, to meet another son, Sanved, who lives and works in Beijing, Indian officials in New Delhi and Kuala Lumpur said.
NGO activists Chandrika Sharma, 51, and Kranti Prahlad Shirshath, 43, were visiting Beijing to catch transit flights.
Sharma, a Chennai resident, was headed to Ulan Bator in Mongolia for a Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) meeting, officials said. Shirshath was headed to Pyongyang in North Korea where he works with a non-profit group that helps tackle natural disasters.
09/03/14 Charu Sudan Kasturi, Sambit Saha, Jhinuk Mazumdar and G.C. Shekhar/The Telegraph
