Kozhikode/Kochi: Ranjith Kumar and wife Indulakshmi celebrated their wedding anniversary on January 16. They also shared pictures of the celebrations with their near and dear ones. But the happy moments of the couple were abruptly cut off. They died within four days.

The couple and their son Vaishnav were among the eight Keralites who died due to a possible gas leak at a resort in Nepal.

Their friends and family are unable to come to terms with the tragedy.

Natives of Kozhikode, the couple were building a two-storeyed house at Kunduparamba. Only the painting works had to be completed at the house, which is located next to Indulakshmi's paternal home. Peethambaran Nair and Ragalatha are her parents, while her sister Chithralakshmi is a teacher at MSS School at Mavillakadavu.

Ranjith Kumar completed his education at West Hill Technical School and Devagiri college. He was working as an engineer at the Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram. He had started a startup initiative just some weeks ago.

The news about the tragic deaths in Nepal resort has sent shock waves across the state. Two families, including four children, were found unconscious in their room at the resort on Tuesday morning. Though they were taken to the hospital, they were declared brought dead.

The kin of the victims and even the common folks were aghast, and were unsure on how to break the tragic news to the near and dear ones.

The elderly parents of Praveen, one of the eight victims, went through several anxious moments before finally getting to know of the tragedy.

That laughter has died

Several shoes, in various size and shapes, can be spotted outside the flat no 401 of an apartment at Elamakkara in Kochi. But the little pairs of feet that ran around in these are no more.

Praveen's wife Sharanya and three children had been staying at this house for two years. Ranjith's family too arrived in the Kochi house and both the families embarked on the trip together.

Saranya's father Sashidharan used to live with him.

Saranya was pursuing a course in Kochi that would have ended in June. Her children studied at the Saraswathi Vidyanikethan Public School at Elamakkara. While Abhinav was an LKG student, Archa was in class 1 and Sreebhadra in class III. A holiday was declared for the school on Wednesday.