Mortal remains of Maharashtra students arrive from Russia 

The bodies of four medical students from Maharashtra, who drowned in the Volkhov river in Russia’s Veliky Novgorod city on June 4, reached the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Thursday night.

The bodies of four medical students from Maharashtra, who drowned in the Volkhov river in Russia’s Veliky Novgorod city on June 4, reached the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Thursday night. The mortal remains, which arrived on two different flights, were handed over the families after completion of mandatory procedures.

The deceased students were Harshal Anantrao Desale (19) from Bhadgaon in Jalgaon district, siblings Jishan Ashpak Pinjari (20) and Jia Firoj Pinjari (20) from Amalner in Jalgaon, and Malik Gulamgous Mohammad Yakub (21) from Mumbai’s Mira Road.

Nisha Bhupesh Sonawane, a student from Pune, survived the accident that occurred during an outing on June 4.  All the students were enrolled at the Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University in Veliky Novgorod city in Russia.

Earlier this week, the Jalgaon District Administration said, “After the death certificates of all the four students were received, their bodies were handed over to their relatives by the Customs Department at the Mumbai International Airport. The bodies were brought to Mumbai via Moscow and Dubai.

Student Yakub’s funeral and cremation took place on Thursday night itself. Harshal Anantrao Desale’s parents were not in a position to speak; his uncle, Rajendra Bhilaji Desale said that the body of their son arrived only by 8 a.m. on Friday. “Our nephew, along with the agent who had assisted with admission process, had gone to the Mumbai airport along with the district administration of Jalgaon and brought the body in ambulance. The final rites and rituals were performed at 9 a.m. The body was in good condition, something that we were worrying over, as his body was found on June 5, and we received him [10 days] since he died,” he said. The last rites of Pinjari siblings also took place on Friday morning.  

After the incident, the Indian Embassy in Russia issued an advisory urging students to be extremely careful while going to waterbodies. It also mentioned that there had been six cases of death of Indian students by drowning in 2022, and two in 2023.