Jalandhar man among those killed in Georgia restaurant served in its bar

Among the 11 Indian nationals who died of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday at an Indian restaurant, Haveli, in the ski resort of Gudauri in Georgia, is Ravinder Kala from Punjab’s Jalandhar.

Ravinder’s wife Kanchan, a resident of Kot Ramdas locality, said she is yet to come to terms with the loss. Flanked by her two daughters and a seven-year-old son, she cried inconsolably, and said, “My son Deepak was yet to see his father. He had seen him only on video calls. How will I tell him that he would now see only his body?”

Kanchan narrated her ordeal, and said, “I was expecting Deepak when my husband had left for Dubai. He worked there for about four years before shifting to Georgia about three years ago. Ravinder was working in a bar in the restaurant where the gas got leaked,” she said.

Kanchan added that Ravinder would speak to her every day late evening as part of their routine.

“He called up on that fateful day too. Ravinder showed me that there was a storm outside and the power lines had snapped. He told me that the restaurant was working on a generator. It was a short call that day”, she said.

Asked how she got to know about the tragedy, she said, “We got the information about his demise from an unknown caller. He told us how the gas tragedy had happened. We are told that he died sitting on the sofa of the same restaurant along with 10 others.”

Kanchan is hoping that the government would pitch in and help bring back the body of her husband soon so that his last rites could be performed here.