Amritsar: A youth from Ramdas in Ajnala of Amritsar died of cardiac arrest on the way to the USA, at Guatemala.
The deceased, Gurpreet Singh, was being taken to the USA along with several others through the infamous 'Donkey' route. This comes days after the USA administration deported several illegal immigrants from India. Gurpreet's family were shocked to learn from his death and have urged the Government to ensure his body is brought back home. Punjab's NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal met Gurpreet's family at Ramdas and assured his body would be brought back soon.
Gurpreet's elder brother Satara Singh said he had returned from England and expressed his desire to go to the USA. "Gurpreet left for the USA three months back. He had made arrangements with some agents in Chandigarh. We had paid the agents Rs 16.5 lakh before he was taken to Guyana." Satara said he had also a Pakistani agent named Mohammad for Gurpreet's safe travel to the USA. He said Gurpreet suffered a heart attack on the way and breathed his last at Guatemala. Satara said he was informed of his brother's death by the latter's friends. "Gurpreet's friends said he spent the night with them and in the while starting his journey with the others in a car, he complained of respiratory distress and died within a few minutes," he said.
Dhalilwal advised the youth of Punjab to refrain from trying to go to the USA and other countries illegally. "I will talk to the Government of Guatemala to bring back Gurpreet's body to India," he said.
