All efforts are being made to bring home the bodies of the 21 Indians, who were killed in the boat mishap off the Bahrain coast, as early as possible to their respective home states, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said in Kochi Saturday.
Among those killed seven are from Kerala, three from Tamil Nadu, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Karnataka and one each from Bihar and Maharastra. One body has not been identified.
Ravi told PTI that he was in touch with the Indian Ambassador in Bahrain Balakrishna Shetty and had given instructions to expedite the "clearance of the bodies".
The process was on and the ambassador and the Indian associations were making every effort in this regard.
The families of the victims, who have reached Bahrain, and the ambassador would receive the bodies, he said.
The minister hoped the bodies of the victims would reach their home states at least by Sunday.
The minister Saturday morning visited the house of 50-year-old Basant Kumar to console his parents -- K Madhava Menon and Kamala, who were informed about their son's death Saturday morning.
Basant Kumar, a bachelor, had been working as an engineer at a British construction company and had visited his aged parents only two weeks ago.
