His family members in Uttarakhand identified his body from a tattoo on Kumar’s left arm with photographs sent from the rescue location.
Government sources confirmed that Kumar’s body was found under the rubble of the Avsar Hotel, a four-star hotel in Malatya, where he was staying after landing in the country on January 23, 2023 for project work until mid-February.
A native of Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand and a gas pipeline installation engineer based in Bengaluru Oxyplants India in the Peenya Industrial Estate, Kumar had been in solitary confinement since Monday after the earthquake in Turkey in which more than 21,000 people lost their lives.
Indian authorities in the Turkish capital Ankara had been monitoring relief efforts in the city of Malatya hoping to find Vijay Kumar alive, but as the days passed, hope was starting to fade.
Meanwhile, on Friday morning, rescuers searched the 66-room building of the Avsar hotel reduced to rubble by the earthquake, found no body but did find his passport and bags, rekindling hope among the family and friends in Dehradun and Bengaluru of Kumar being alive and hospitalized after being initially rescued. But the shocking news came on Saturday afternoon.
“We are shocked to receive news on Saturday afternoon that the mangled body of Vijay Kumar was found under the rubble of the structure which sank one meter after the earthquake. His elder brother identified Vijay’s body from a tattoo on his left arm from photographs sent by Indian authorities from the salvage site in Malatya,” Oxyplants chief executive Ramesh Siddappa confirmed to TOI.
Suspicion over his body was raised on Saturday after the damaged corpse was discovered under the rubble around 2am IST. It was only confirmed that it was Kumar’s body after officials from the Indian embassy in Ankara, who were in contact with his family in Uttarakhand, arrived at the scene and shared the photographs. Efforts are now underway by Indian authorities to take the victim’s mortal remains to India, the sources added.
Vijay Kumar is survived by his wife and two young children.
Oxyplants initially awarded the business trip to a local engineer, but Vijay Kumar (35), eager for a maiden voyage to Turkey, asked to fly instead. Kumar, who had been working from his home in Uttarakhand, arrived in Bengaluru in the first week of January to participate in a rigorous training program for Turkey and then flew from Delhi to Malatya via Istanbul on 23 January.
Staying in a room on the second floor of Malatya’s Avsar Hotel, Kumar was expected to return to India next week following the completion of a gas pipe installation project near the hotel, the sources added.
