The mortal remains of late Sunny Mathews will be placed at the Parish Hall in the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait at 11:00 am on Wednesday, May 24 for people to pay their final respects. Popularly known as Toyota Sunny, Sunny Mathews passed away in Kuwait Saturday evening at his home in Qadsiya. On the same day, the body will be flown to Cochin via a Kuwait Airways flight. The funeral service is scheduled to be held on Friday afternoon at Elim Indian Pentecostal Church in Kumbanad in Kerala, India.
Indian Ambassador to Kuwait Sri Sunil Jain today said that Mr Sunny Mathews was a great personality and his service towards the Indian community will be ever remembered by our country. He was talking to IndiansinKuwait.com after visiting Mr Sunny Mathew's house for paying homage to the departed soul. Ambassador met the family members of Sunny Mathew and offered his condolence. Last year during the visit of external affairs minister Sri V K Singh to Kuwait, the minister personally visited Sri Sunny Mathews and conveyed the gratitude of our nations towards his yeoman service for the community during the time of invasion, ambassador said.
As a mark of respect to the departed soul, the Indian Embassy in Kuwait will be holding a condolence meeting in its auditorium soon in consultation with the members of bereaved family, embassy officials informed in a statement.
He was known as one of the heroes who made possible the largest civilian evacuation in known history. And the main inspiration behind the 2016 Bollywood historical drama Airlift.
Expressing his condolence, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said during the 1990 Gulf war Mathews had helped thousands of Indians flee the gulf nation and his services would always be remembered. By not taking efforts to save his own life and property, Mathews had done yeoman service to bring his countrymen, who had lost everything in the war, safely back, Vijayan said. “He provided food and drinking water to the stranded Indians and we remember it with gratitude,” Vijayan said.
Mathews played a pivotal role in evacuating more than 1.7 lakh Indians, mostly hailing from his home state Kerala. He reportedly drove to Baghdad to meet the then External Affairs minister Inder Kumar Gujral to apprise him of the misery confronted by Indians in Kuwait. After a long negotiation with Iraqi government led by Saddam Hussain, Indian government successfully conducted the biggest evacuation in the known history of the world.
Bollywood actor Akshay Kuwar, who played Ranjit Katiyal (inspired by Sunny Mathew’s character) in Airlift, took to Twitter and wrote, “Extremely sad news, was an honour to portray him onscreen. Thoughts and prayers with his family #RIPSunnyMathew.”
Producer of the film 'Airlift' Nikhil Advani also shared his heartfelt message on Twitter and wrote, “The real #RanjitKatiyal lost his battle with ALS last night. 1,70,000 families pray for you. #RIPSunnyMathew @akshaykumar @RajaMenon.”
Several Indian community organisations in Kuwait also offered condolence on the demise of Sri Sunny Mathews. The chairman and board members of Al Sayer group, where he served for 33 year, offered condolence on the demise of Sri Sunny Mathew.