Teary eyed final goodbye to Kerala couple who died in fire at Dubai

Kochi: On Monday, all roads led to the uncompleted house at Vengara in Malappuram of a couple who died in a massive fire that broke out in a residential building in Dubai killing 16 people, on Saturday.

When the fire broke out the couple was busy preparing a feast for their friends who were observing the Ramzan fast.

Their bodies arrived here in the wee hours of Monday and were brought to their soon to be completed house at Vengara, which they were getting ready to live in from June.

Rijesh Kalangadan, 38 was working in a travel agency in Dubai, while his wife Jeshi Kandamangalath, 32 was a teacher at a local school in Dubai.

Since morning hundreds of local residents filed past the bodies with tears in their eyes.

“Rijesh was a great soul and was at the forefront of helping people here whenever anyone needed help. He was a very nice human being and we are all heartbroken and have nothing more to say,” said a close friend of Rijesh.

Sixteen people were killed and nine injured in the blaze in the Al Ras area, which Dubai Civil Defence attributed to a lack of compliance with building security and safety requirements.

The fire broke out on the fourth floor of the building on Saturday at 12.35 p.m. and soon spread to other areas.