Karnal hotelier, family safe in Japan; rings up brother

KARNAL: Five members of a Haryana family in Japan’s Iwaki province, missing after last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, are safe, said their family on Tuesday.
Narinder Kumar and his family had left Kurali village of Karnal three years back to start a hotel in Japan. He runs a hotel in Iwaki and lives there with his wife Maria and three children Yash, Major, and Marish.
His brother Kimti Lal, who had last met him six years back, heaved a sigh of relief after getting a call that the family was safe and had reached Kochi. Lal said he had been quite anxious when he failed to establish contact with his brother after seeing the widespread damage caused by the earthquake.
"I also talked to his friends, but they didnt know anything about his whereabouts. I contacted the Japan embassy in Delhi but they had no information about Narinder and his family," he said. According to Sadar Karnal SHO Balwan Singh, Sukhdev Singh, a member of the village panchayat, had been trying to contact the hotelier but in vain.
Apprehending the worst, they had requested the government to locate the family. Meanwhile, the Haryana government has also asked the district administration as well as police officials across the state to find out details of families from Haryana who are missing in Japan.