Washington DC [USA] March 3 (ANI): A 47-year-old man from Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala, named Thomas Gabriel Pereira, was reportedly shot and killed by security forces in Jordan while attempting to illegally cross the border into Israel. Gabriel, who had travelled to Jordan on a tourist visa. He was accompanied by 43-year-old Edison, who was injured by a bullet during the incident. His family is now seeking financial assistance from the Indian mission

Kin of Thomas Gabriel Periera, who died in Jordan, says, ' My relative's son is in London and he is the one who called and informed me about this incident. We don't know what happened exactly. He left from here on 5th (February). On 9th (February), my sister received a call, it was just for 2 minutes. He just asked to pray for him and cut the call. Then we received an email and we got to know that he died after he was shot in the head and his body is lying at a government hospital there. He once worked in Kuwait for 5 years...he didn't say anything to his wife and anyone, he left silently. He called once he reached there and then only he told where he went to'

Wife of Thomas Gabriel Periera, who died in Jordan, said, 'Last time I received a call, he only spoke to me for 2 minutes. He just asked me to pray for him'.

Adoor Prakash, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Attingal, Kerala wrote a letter to EAM S Jaishanker stating, 'Respected Dr. S. Jaishankar Ji, this is with reference to the attached email reply received from the Indian embassy in Jordan regarding the death of Mr. Thomas Gabriel Pereira. The family of the deceased is not in a position to bear the expense of transporting the mortal remains to India and is requesting financial assistance from the Indian mission. I request you to kindly give consent to the Indian embassy to provide financial assistance for the dispatch of mortal remains to India.'

Senior BJP leader Prakash Javdekar criticised the Kerala Government on the issue accusing it of being unable to providing jobs for the youth.

'Yet another Kerala youth was shot dead by Jordanian army, while sneaking into Israel. This is just not a Visa fraud, it is a complete failure of LDF and UDF in creating jobs. Kerala youth do not find jobs in Kerala. They have to either go to other states or countries,' he alleged in a post on X.

On March 2, sources in the External Affairs ministry informed that an Indian national was shot and killed at by the Jordanian security when he was allegedly trying to cross over into another country illegally,

The Indian Embassy in Jordan mourned the demise of the national, and said it is working closely with the authorities for the transportation of the mortal remains of the deceased.

In a post on X, the embassy said, 'The Embassy has learnt of the sad demise of an Indian national in unfortunate circumstances. The Embassy is in touch with the family of the deceased and is working closely with Jordanian authorities for transportation of mortal remains of the deceased.' (ANI)