MH370: Five Indian nationals identified

There were five Indian nationals and one Canadian of Indian origin on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which went missing on Saturday according to the Wall Street Journal.

India’s Foreign Ministry had on Sunday said that its diplomats in Malaysia, China and North Korea had been in touch with the relatives of the missing Indians on flight MH370 between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

Among those who were travelling on the missing flight was Muktesh Mukherjee, aged 42 years old, a Canadian of Indian origin who had been on vacation with his wife , Xiaomo Bai in Vietnam before boarding the Malaysian Airlines jet, according to a report on CBC News based in Montreal, Canada.

Kranti Shirsath, aged 44 years, a former chemistry lecturer from Pune, India, was travelling to North Korea to visit her husband, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Her husband had been working abroad at a non profit for many years and his contract in North Korea was supposed to end on April 6.

Another Indian on the ill fated flight was Chandrika Sharma, 51 years old , an executive secretary at the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, (ICSF) a Chennai based non profit was on her way from Chennai to a conference of Food and Agricultural Organisation in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia via Beijing.

Her colleague, N. Venugopal was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying, “Her family is in deep shock. They hope she will come back soon.”

There was also an Indian couple on board flight MH370. Vijay Kolekar, aged 55 and Chetana Kolekar also aged 55 from Mumbai were on their way to Beijing to visit their son Samved, a report in the Indian Express said.

Their younger son, Swanad Kolekar, aged 23, was accompanying them on the trip.

The Mumbai Mirror reported that Samwed was waiting to receive them at Beijing’s airport when the news that the plane had gone missing came through.

According to the Indian Express, neighbours of the Kolekar family reported that they had not been able to get a flight direct from Mumbai to Beijing so they had decided to fly via Kuala Lumpur.

The report added that Vinod Kolekar worked as engineer with Mahindra & Mahindra until opting for voluntary retirement a few years ago.