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4 Wipro engineers still missing in New York

M D Riti in Bangalore

Deepika, where are you? This is the question that Deepika Kumar's family in Bangalore is asking. Deepika, 33, a software engineer working for Wipro Information Technologies in Bangalore, and her team of three young male engineers, were working on a project for Marshal McLennan on the 97th floor of the World Trade Centre in New York on that fateful morning. Now, all four of them are missing.

Given their location, the possibility of their being alive and well is not too strong. However, their families continue to live in hope of good news. Wipro managers in New York at the time of the incident are in constant touch with the US authorities about this. "But we have not been able to get any fresh information," says Pratik Kumar, head of Talent Engagement and Development, Wipro Infotech. "Unfortunately, all flights to the US have been stopped, so even if we had wanted to fly some of our managers or the families of our missing employees over, we cannot."

Deepika was the oldest of the four missing engineers and leader of the small team. The other engineers on her team were Shreyas R S, Shashikiran L Kadaba and Hemanth Kumar P. Their immediate superior in Wipro Infotech, Bangalore, spoke to them barely an hour before the crash into the building. The four sounded cheerful, at the beginning of yet another busy day in New York.

Only Deepika was married; she was also the oldest. The others were around 26 years. Deepika in particular was quite upbeat as her husband and very young son were with her in New York. All four engineers had been in the US for about two months now and were not expected back for a while.

Three more engineers were to have been in the World Trade Centre on that day at that time. By sheer luck, none of them were there. They were all near the building and narrowly escaped the catastrophe. In all, 50 engineers working for Wipro were in New York that day; 46 of them have been contacted, found to be safe and well. Only these four are missing.

The company is in touch with their families on an hourly basis. However, the families have requested that their names and addresses in Bangalore should not be made public at present, as they are in severe stress.

"I would describe their condition as hopeful, but very anxious," Pratik Kumar said. "As time goes by, its tough for them to keep waiting, without knowing what will happen. We cannot do much other than try to share their distress. Rescue work on such a massive scale is under way in New York, it is difficult to predict when definite information will come our way."

Wipro has set up a small section on its official web site with the names of its 50 employees who were in New York, on that day at that time. Beside 46 names, there is a column which says 'contact established and safe.'

'We are constantly trying to establish contact with the remaining four employees in New York,' says the last line in that section.

Anyone looking for or wishing to impart information on these four missing engineers can contact the following Wipro personnel: raja.raj@wipro.com in the US, telephone 408-557-4415 and santosh.karagada@wipro.com in Bangalore, telephone 91-80-8440313.

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