Sonepur: Family members of four Odias, who lost their lives in Tara Air Plane-9 NAET crash in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district Sunday, mourned their untimely demise Monday and said that it’s hard to believe that they are not with us anymore. The deceased family members have been identified as Ashok Tripathy, 50, his wife Vaibhabi Tripathy, 45, son Dhanus Tripathy, 23, and daughter Ritika Tripathy,15. “I still cannot believe they are not with us. I had talked to them four days back. Ashok had told me how he was taking his family for a trip in Nepal.
However, we are shocked to know about their death through social media posts and news channels,” said an inconsolable Kalyani Tripathy, widow of Ashok’s elder brother. “They did not deserve such a painful death,” she added as tears rolled down her cheeks. “He had come to Sonepur in March and stayed with me for a few days.
The whole family had gathered and we had a great time before he went back to Bhubaneswar,” she stated. “Ashok had settled in Bhubaneswar’s Jaydev Vihar since 1995. But, since his wife and son worked in Mumbai, he also had recently shifted there,” she further said. Ashok was the fourth son of well known lawyer Krushnachandra Tripathy in Sonepur town. His two elder brothers Debabrata and Subrat have passed away while Subrat’s wife Kalyani lives in Sonepur.
On the other hand, Ashok’s two other siblings – Satyabrata and Rajen – live abroad. “The deaths have come as a rude shock for everyone in Subarnapur town. He was a well known person in the locality. A pall of gloom has descended in Sonepur town,” said a relative of Ashok.
Reports said, the Tripathy family, who had been to Kathmandu on a tour, had boarded in the Tara Air Plane to visit some scenic places in Nepal. However, the plane went out of sight and remained cut off from the control room before it crashed. The aircraft could have met with the accident after hitting a cliff, reports said.