Remains of 3 deceased students to be repatriated from Azerbaijan

COLOMBO (News 1st):- Minister of Higher Education Dr Bandula Gunawardena says that measures will be taken to repatriate the remains of the three students, who died in a fire at a University in Azerbaijan with the government bearing the expense. The Minister of Higher Education today (January 12) arrived at the residence of the two sisters who died in the accident, in Bokundara Piliyandala. The subject minister pledged to bring the remains of the victims back to the country under the expense of the government. Three Sri Lankan university students, aged 21,23 and 25, studying at Western Caspian University in Baku, Azerbaijan died at their apartment as a result of suffocation from smoke inhalation due to a fire that had occurred on the 9th of January. The three Sri Lankan students had left for Azerbaijan in August last year. The fire had erupted in the basement of the two-storey house they occupied in the area of Beyil in Baku. Foreign media added that the reason for the fire was a fault in an electric circuit.