Ras Al Khaimah: Hundreds of people on Friday bid tearful adieu to an Indian teen who died after being washed away in a flash flood in Khor Fakkan on November 16.
Relatives, family friends and neighbours thronged the Saif Bin Ghobash Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah for a prayer session held for Albert Joy.
Men, women and children joined the grieving family of Joy, including his parents and younger sister, in the prayer meeting led by priests.
Joy’s body was brought from Fujairah Hospital to Ras Al Khaimah on Friday morning.
His family was scheduled to fly with the body to their hometown in the South Indian state of Kerala on a Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram flight by midnight, according to a relative.
He told Gulf News that Joy’s funeral will be held at the St Sebastian Malankara Catholic Church in Avolikuzhy area of Pathanamthitta district in Kerala on Saturday.
He said colleagues of Joy’s father, who works with Julphar Pharmaceuticals, helped in carrying out the legal formalities and got special clearances for the repatriation of Joy’s body by Friday.
Four of the colleagues had already left for Kerala to assist the family in making arrangements for the funeral, he said.
“We cannot thank them enough for the support they offered throughout this ordeal. Special thanks to Julphar management also for allowing the employees to take part in the search operations. There were almost 150 of them. They all live in the same villa housing complex for Julphar employees.”
The friends and relatives have also thanked the UAE officials, especially Lieutenant-Colonel Waleed Al Yamahi, director of Khor Fakkan Police, and Mohammed Khamis Al Naqbi of Wadi Shis area for their support.
Joy’s body was found on Wednesday near a dam in Oman’s Madha area, some 20km away from Wadi Shis from where he was swept away in his father’s car.
The 18-year-old’s body was retrieved following a massive combing operation by the police in the UAE and Oman.
An engineering student of Birla Institute of Technology in Ras Al Khaimah, Joy had gone to the Wadi Shis area with five of his friends to enjoy the rainy weather.
Though his friends escaped with the help of an Emirati man and his employees, Joy was apparently scared to jump into the flood waters and refused to leave his father’s four-wheel drive.
