15 January,2009 08:39 AM IST | | Khalid A-H Ansari
They were crushed in ice fall
Edwin Chan, the owner of the van who had earlier threatened he would not bow to "emotional blackmail" and would charge the Mirandas an estimated $1,600 (Rs 42,478), has relented after a backlash in Australia and New Zealand.
Mangalore-born engineer Ashish (24), who worked for Boeing, and Akshay (22), his student brother, the only children of their parents who migrated from Mumbai to Melbourne, were on holiday in New Zealand and had crossed safety barriers at the glacier's terminal face to take photographs (KHALIDOSCOPE, January 9).
Akshay, whose body remains trapped under approximately 100 tonnes of ice, was buried with the keys of the Toyota Tarago.
The owner of the rental firm had said the family should foot the bill for a new set of keys and towing the van to Wellington, adding he would waive rental for the extra four days the car had been stuck at Fox Glacier and would try to minimise additional costs.
'Why drive the car?'
The firm charges approximately Rs 4,000 a day for the eight-seater vehicle. He is upset the keys were buried under the ice with Akshay, an engineering student who was due to graduate this year, because he was not permitted to drive the car.
"They have both been told not to drive the car," Chan said. "The father and cousin (who was on holiday with the family) were supposed to drive the car."
He criticised the brothers for costing the New Zealand government thousands of dollars for the search and recovery, saying they contributed to their own deaths by walking into an out-of-bounds area.
The family were also originally charged for the night they did not use a room at a motel following the tragedy, but the management changed its mind and refunded the cost.
(Source: Daily Telegraph)
