Funds raised to bring drowned Indian’s body back from NZ
9 April 2015 6:20 AM IST
The body of a 26-year-old Indian student in New Zealand who drowned in the sea will now be sent back with help of public donations worth $23,000 after his family in India could not afford to pay for funeral and transport costs.
Boobesh Palani, 26, was pulled from the harbour off the coast of Eastbourne in Wellington at 10.30 pm on March 30. He was taken to Wellington Hospital, where he died on Friday.
Friends and members of Wellington’s Indian community heard that his family in India could not afford the funeral and transport costs to repatriate his body, and so set up a fund to help.
Senthil Kumaran Kathiresan, Rama Ramanathan and Moorthy Sukari had raised $3,800 towards the costs by Monday, but were still well short of their &25,000 target $15,000 for the funeral and transport costs, and $10,000 for the family to cover extra expenses, the Dominion Post reported. But after news of their appeal, about $20,000 was raised overnight. Ramanathan said today that the fund had reached $23,000 and enough money had been pledged to make them confident of sending Palani home at the earliest.
Boobesh Palani, 26, was pulled from the harbour off the coast of Eastbourne in Wellington at 10.30 pm on March 30. He was taken to Wellington Hospital, where he died on Friday.
Friends and members of Wellington’s Indian community heard that his family in India could not afford the funeral and transport costs to repatriate his body, and so set up a fund to help.
Senthil Kumaran Kathiresan, Rama Ramanathan and Moorthy Sukari had raised $3,800 towards the costs by Monday, but were still well short of their &25,000 target $15,000 for the funeral and transport costs, and $10,000 for the family to cover extra expenses, the Dominion Post reported. But after news of their appeal, about $20,000 was raised overnight. Ramanathan said today that the fund had reached $23,000 and enough money had been pledged to make them confident of sending Palani home at the earliest.
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