Father Martin Xavier Vazhachira, a 33-year-old Keralite priest, who had gone missing four days ago, was found dead on a beach in Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, according to the information the Church sources received on Saturday, June 24.
The Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) provincial from the Archbishop of St Andrews in Edinburgh received the news of the priest's death on Saturday morning. Vazhachira, who hailed from Pulinkunnu in Alappuzha district of Kerala, belonged to the CMI Congregation, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
The message said that the Edinburgh Police found the priest dead on a beach in Dunbar, a town situated in East Lothian on the south-east coast of Scotland, around 28 miles east of Edinburgh. Details of his death would be available only after Tuesday, June 27, a CMI official told PTI. Vazhachira served at St John the Baptist Church, Corstorphine in Edinburgh.
Ramesh Chennithala, Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, asked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to take steps to bring the body of the deceased priest back to India as soon as possible.
Chennithala wrote to Swaraj saying that Vazhachira's body was found on a beach under mysterious circumstances. The minister also sought a comprehensive investigation into his death.
