Pall of gloom descends on Jammu colony as terror victim's body arrives from Kashmir

JammuL A pall of gloom descended in Jammu's Talab Tillo area on Monday evening with the arrival of the body of Shashi Abrol, who was killed along with six others by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district a day before.

An architectural designer, Abrol was among the seven employees of a construction company who were killed when the terrorists struck a tunnel-building site on the Srinagar-Leh national highway on Sunday, officials said.

The unidentified terrorists carried out the attack as the labourers and other staff working on the tunnel project at Ganderbal's Gund had returned to their camp late in the evening, the officials added.

As Abrol's body arrived in an ambulance from the Kashmir valley, his family members were inconsolable. His wife, mother and children embraced the body.

Abrol, who was working for the construction company in Sonamarg for six years, is survived by wife Ruchi, son Ishan, a first-year engineering student, a three-year-old daughter and parents. He had last visited home two months ago during his son's college admission.

Karwa Chauth, a festival celebrated by married women for the long life of their husbands, turned tragic for Ruchi Abrol, who lost her husband in the terror attack.

Dressed in traditional attire, she was waiting to break her daylong fast after the moon rose on Sunday night. Despite multiple calls to her husband, there was no response until the family learned of his death in the attack.

The cremation will take place on Tuesday morning, the family members said.