Karnal youth dies of heart attack in Canada, hadn’t met parents in 4 years

Karnal. A 27-year-old man from Karnal’s Jani village, who worked as a food delivery driver in Toronto to support his family, has died of a heart attack in Canada. His parents had not seen him for four years. Now they are struggling to raise the money needed to bring his body home for the last rites.

The man has been identified as Pradeep Kumar. His father works as a munshi (clerk) at the Karnal court, and his younger brother is a lawyer.

The parents have one wish left: to see their son’s face one last time and cremate him with their own hands in the village. But bringing a body back from Canada costs a lot of money and involves heavy paperwork, and the family cannot cover it alone.

Friend starts fundraiser

Anil, Pradeep’s close friend and roommate in Toronto, has started a drive to collect money to send the body to India. He has asked people to give whatever they can. Those who cannot give money, he said, should share the appeal so it reaches more people and the family gets to see their son one last time.

Anil thanked everyone who has already helped and prayed for Pradeep’s soul.

Four years away from home

According to Anil, Pradeep worked as a food delivery driver in downtown Toronto. He used what he earned to support his family back in India.

Work and family duties kept him in Canada for four years without a single trip home. In all that time, he did not meet his parents even once. The family had been hoping he would visit soon. Instead, they got the news of his death.

Anil said Pradeep was hard-working and soft-spoken, and that he met his duties to his family while living abroad.

Not the first such case from Karnal

Earlier this year, Mukesh Kumar of Kaimla village in Karnal died of a heart attack in Barcelona, Spain, on January 4, about three months after moving there with his wife. His family, too, had to depend on an online fundraiser to bring his body back.

Such costs are steep. Families of two Punjab men who died in Canada sought CA$10,000 to CA$12,000 each for repatriation, while another Indian family put the cost of transport, legal formalities and related expenses at CA$30,000.