The families of Professor G V Loganathan, 51, and Minal Panchal, 26, who were among the 33 faculty and students killed in the Virginia Tech shootout, joined thousands of students, faculty, family, friends and well-wishers in attending the university's memorial convocation on April 17.

The memorial was held in Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg and was addressed by President George W Bush.

Loganathan, who hails from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, was a professor in the university's Civil and Environmental Engineering Department for the past 15 years, and lived on campus with his wife Usha and two daughters Uma and Abhirami.

Panchal, from Mumbai, who had completed her undergraduate degree from Rizvi College of Architecture in Mumbai (Class of 1998), was in her first year of a Master's program in Building Sciences and also lived in a university apartment in the sprawling 260,000 acre campus, which had a student population of 26,000.

Images: Massacre at Virginia Tech

Both Loganathan and Panchal were killed in the campus' Norris Hall of the Engineering Building by the lone gunman, who has been identified as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a South Korean national who was a permanent US resident or green card holder, and was a final year student majoring in English. Cho went on a rampage, ultimately killing himself too weeks before graduation ceremonies at the university.

Panchal's mother had arrived in the US weeks ago and had been visiting her older daughter (her father is deceased), and Panchal's only sibling -- who lives in New Jersey with her husband. The family had been hoping to get together with Minal, when news of the Virginia Tech massacre broke.

Slain professor's family gets passports, awaits US visa

The family and friends were unable to contact Minal as she had been rushed to Blacksburg the same day. The next day, when the authorities had completed the DNA tests and other identifications of several of the victims at the Montgomery Regional Medical Center, the family was informed that Minal was among those killed.

Senior Indian embassy officials in Washington, DC, Krishan Varma, minister and head of the consular office, and Anil Gupta, minister, community affairs, who travelled to Blacksburg on April 17, told rediff.com that they had met with Panchal's family, several of the Indian students on campus. They had also visited the Loganathan home to condole and offer sympathies of the Indian government and its people and reiterated any help and support the embassy can render at their time of grief.

On his way to Blacksburg, Varma told rediff.com, "The whole idea is to go there and get a first-hand assessment of what is happening, what kind of help and support they need, and if there's anything we can help as the government of India's embassy."

Varma, after meeting with the Panchal and Loganathan families, and the Indian students, said that all of them were still extremely traumatised by the incident, which President Bush said at the convocation was "...the worst day of violence on a college campus in American history -- and for many of you here today, it was the worst day of your lives."

"Laura and I have come to Blacksburg today with hearts full of sorrow," he said. "This is a day of mourning for the Virginia Tech community -- and it is a day of sadness for our entire nation. In this time of anguish, I hope you know that people all over this country are thinking about you, and asking God to provide comfort for all who have been affected."

Bush said, "It's impossible to make sense of such violence and suffering. Those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now they're gone -- and they leave behind grieving families, and grieving classmates, and a grieving nation."

Varma said that they had offered the Panchal family all assistance in the funeral arrangements either in the US or if Minal's body were to be flown back to Mumbai, "...but they haven't made a decision yet," and this was largely because the authorities had yet to hand over the bodies of the victims to the families, because various tests and autopsies yet being conducted.

He said that in the case of the Loganathan family, they had "...requested some assistance for the issue of their (Loganathan's parents) passports and to make arrangements for the issuance of visas etc. from the US consulate so they could come as soon as they can."

Varma said that since the elderly parents (Loganathan father is 78 and his mother 72) who live in the village of Karatadipalayam in Gobichettipalayam in the Erode district of Tamil Nadu, were yet to get their passports, after which the visas would have to be issued, the earliest they probably could arrive in the US would be sometime over the weekend.

Meanwhile, students, faculty, friends and well-wishers continued to stream into the Loganathan household to condole and offer their deepest sympathies to Mrs Loganathan and her daughters, and even though she was "...clearly composed and had her wits around her and is communicative," the trauma and utter devastation was palpable.

Varma said he and Gupta had also met with 75-80 Indian students in a room provided by the college authorities to listen to their concerns and issues and assure them of the government of India's readiness to help them in any way it can. The Indian student population at Virginia Tech for both undergraduate and graduate students is conservatively estimated at about 600.

"They are mostly young kids and naturally they were all shaken up by this event -- they've never ever experienced anything like this before and being so far away from home, they were essentially feeling sort of scared and lost, particularly because it's such a huge campus."

"So to that extent, our coming here was very, very useful because we were able to being them all together because even though there are a couple of (Indian) associations, I don't think they were able to network and get everybody together in one place, talk to them, explain to them what was happening and so on."

Apparently there was also a perception that the university authorities were "...not hearing them and their concerns and so we were able to act as a link and tell the authorities what their concerns were and the authorities of course responded very positively to that."

Varma said that even though the students had expressed their concern over the gap between the shooting, "...they wanted to convey to people back home that they were safe -- that there are really no major security issues and for their parents and families not to be unduly worried."

The shooting began at 7.15 am in the Ambler Johnston Hall and after two hours was continued in the Norris Hall and during the interim the university was not locked down and the students and faculty not adequately informed of the imminent danger.

"A lot of them felt this incident was an aberration -- a freak incident -- but that otherwise they felt very secure on the campus," he said. "The majority of them had been able to get through to their families and assure them that they are OK. But some of them, of course, said, let people know back home that this place is safe and (potential Indian) students intending to come to Virginia Tech shouldn't get deterred."

Varma said the university has been involved in "...some major outreach program," and that in fact the vice provost was scheduled to visit India in the next couple of weeks "to develop more institutional tie-ups -- they are trying to encourage more Indians to come study here. So there's a great attempt to get over this and heal and move on."

He said clearly his visit along with Gupta and the meeting with the students had been cathartic. "They were appreciative that we had come and we are there for them and they have points of contact now. They know that if anything happens or they need anything, we are there for them, they know where to reach us, where to go."

"From that point of view, we feel it was a good decision on our part to go out there, because it was important to bring them together, calm them down and assure them we are there for them, and that's something that happened while we were there," he added.

Varma also said they stood ready to return to Blacksburg if either the Panchal or Loganathan family needed any assistance, "At this time the bodies have not been given over and there is no paperwork that is required to be done. So whenever we are required, we are ready to go back."

Loganathan, an alumnus of Madras University, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and Purdue University, from where he received his Bachelor's, Master's degrees and PhD respectively, was considered one of the department's top 10 professors. 

He had received yet another award for excellence in teaching last year -- the university's 2006 W E Wine Award for Excellence in Teaching. He also won the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Civil Engineering Education.