Kinnaur: After nine days of hectic search operation, the body of Vetri Duraisamy, son of former Chennai Corporation Mayor Sydai S Duraisamy, was traced by divers from River Sutlej, 6 km away from the accident site in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district.
The body was recovered at around 2 pm by a team of divers at Pangi Nala. According to Kinnaur Police, Vetri, 45, went missing on Sunday, February 4, after the Toyota Innova car he was travelling in veered off the road and fell into Sutlej in Kinnaur. Vetri and his friend Gopinath, 32, were returning from Spiti Valley and going towards Shimla when the accident took place.
While Gopinath survived though with massive injuries, the driver, a local identified as Tenzin, died on the spot. Vetri had gone missing and it was feared that he was swept away by strong currents in Sutlej. Following the mishap, the former Chennai mayor appealed to the locals to help him trace his son. Vetri's family also announced a reward of Rs 1 crore for anyone sharing information regarding him.
"A team of Mahunag Diving Association, Sundernagar recovered the body near Pangi Nala at around 2 pm. Since January 4, a search operation was going on for Vetri Duraisamy of Tamil Nadu. In this operation which lasted for 9 days, teams of NDRF, SDRF, Police, Home Guard, Navy, District Disaster Management Authority conducted a joint search operation," DC Kinnaur Amit Kumar Sharma said.
Visuals accessed by ETV Bharat from the spot showed the divers pulling the body out of the ice-cold Sutlej. Given the sub-zero temperatures, the body was visibly intact. It would be handed over to the family members after conducting a post-mortem at Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital (IGMCH), Shimla, police said in a statement.
As for Gopinath, he is being treated at IGMCH where doctors say his condition is stable. Earlier in the day, a part of a human head was located by the search team after which Kinnaur Police said it was sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for DNA extraction.
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