Turkey: Turkey earthquake: Body of Indian man found under rubble; family identifies him with tattoo on left hand | India News

BENGALURU: The body of Vijay Kumar (35), the lone Indian caught in the devastating Turkey earthquake on Monday, was found under the rubble of the 24-storey hotel in Malatya city in the eastern Anatolia region early on Saturday.
His family members in Uttarakhand identified his body from a tattoo on Kumar’s left arm with photographs sent from the rescue site.
Government sources confirmed that Kumar’s body was found under the rubble of Avsar Hotel, a four star hotel in Malatya, where he was staying after landing in the country on January 23, 2023 for a project work till mid February.
A native of Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand and a gas pipeline installation engineer with Bengaluru-based Oxyplants India in Peenya Industrial Estate, Kumar was incommunicado from Monday after the earthquake in Turkey in which over 21,000 people have lost their lives.

Indian authorities in Turkish capital Ankara had been monitoring the rescue efforts in Malatya city hoping to find Vijay Kumar alive but with days passing hope was starting to fade.
Meanwhile on Friday morning, rescuers searching the 66-room Avsar hotel building that was reduced to rubble in the quake, didn’t find any body but found his passport and bags, raising hopes once again among family and friends in Dehradun and Bengaluru of Kumar being alive and admitted to a hospital after being rescued initially. But the shocking news came on Saturday afternoon.
“We are shattered to receive the news on Saturday afternoon that Vijay Kumar’s mangled body was found under the rubble of the structure that sank three feet under after the quake. His elder brother has identified Vijay’s body from a tattoo on the left arm from photographs sent by Indian authorities from the rescue site in Malatya,” Ramesh Siddappa, managing director of Oxyplants, confirmed to TOI.
Suspicion over his body was raised on early Saturday itself after the damaged corpse was discovered under the rubble around 2 am IST. It was ascertained as Kumar’s body only after officials from the Indian Embassy in Ankara, who were in touch with his family in Uttarakhand, reached the spot and shared photographs. Efforts are now underway by Indian authorities to bring the victim’s mortal remains to India, sources added.
Vijay Kumar is survived by his wife and two young children.
Oxyplants initially assigned the work trip to a local engineer but Vijay Kumar (35), who was eager about a maiden trip to Turkey, requested that he will fly instead. Kumar, who had been working from his home in Uttarakhand, arrived in Bengaluru in the first week of January to attend a rigorous training program for Turkey and then flew from Delhi to Malatya via Istanbul on January 23.
Staying in a second floor room at the Avsar Hotel in Malatya, Kumar was scheduled to return to India next week after completion of a gas pipe installation project close to the hotel, sources added.