File photos of the victims (PTI)
A mountain flight to view Mount Everest at the conclusion of a business conference ended in a tragedy for a group of eight city-based builders when their plane crashed in Nepal on Sunday.
The deceased - all members of the Builders' Association of India - were in New Delhi from September 21 for an industry conference and had planned in advance for the trip to Nepal, a family member of one of the victims said here.
"It is a rude shock to us. My father spoke to me last night on arrival in Kathmandu. We were expecting his safe return," M V Anand, son of M V Maruthachalam, one of the deceased, said.
Expressing shock over the deaths, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa conveyed her condolences to the bereaved families.
"I express my deepest condolences to the families of those killed in the mishap," she said in a statement at Chennai.
A pall of gloom descended here following news of the death of the eight builders in the plane crash.
Ten Indians were among the 19 people killed when a small plane carrying them crashed and broke into pieces at Kotdanda hills near the Nepalese capital.
Earlier, the family members of the deceased made desperate attempts to contact their dear ones through their mobile phones after hearing reports about the crash, but there was no response. Official sources said the news about their death was confirmed after one of the relatives called up the Kathmandu airport.
The eight were supposed to return here on September 28.
Relatives of the victims will go to Nepal to bring back the bodies.
Construction activities have been suspended here as a mark of respect to the deceased.
Tiruchirappalli District Collector Jayashree Muraleedharan said a delegation of builders association and family members of the victims had met her and sought steps to bring back the bodies.
She told reporters she was yet to receive official communication about the deaths, adding, she had conveyed the request of the delegation to the state government.
Meanwhile, Saravanan, one of the 12 members of the local chapter of Builders Association of India who had gone for the conference, said the victims were originally scheduled to leave for Kathmandu today for the Everest visit but advanced it by a day following a change in their trip.
Saravanan was one of the four persons who had returned from Delhi on Saturday after the conference.
One of the victims, Arunachalam, was an avid stamp and coin collector, and was vice-president of Tiruchirappalli Philatelic Association.
Another deceased, Kanakasabesan, was a former professor of civil engineering with the National Institute of Technology here.