Local expat couple remembered
11/1/2005 7:25
Shanghai Daily news
Teachers and students at the
local Les Roches Jinjiang International Hotel Management College gathered
together yesterday to remember Justin Ledingham, one of their colleagues and
tutors, who was killed by the tsunami in Thailand.
On his office desk at the
school, there were a bundle of white lilies and pink roses - flowers Ledingham
will never have the chance to appreciate.
The 30-year-old Briton was
confirmed dead on January 4, after his body was found on an island near Phuket.
Ledingham and his Turkish fiancee Seda Tekoz went to Phuket for the Christmas
holiday, and both were killed by the Indian Ocean tidal waves.
The couple
left the city on December 22, and checked in at a seaside hotel, which was later
submerged entirely by the waves.
Originally they'd planned to return to South
Africa where Ledingham lived, but changed the schedule due to the expensive air
tickets and lengthy flying time, said Ma Yuanxi, a colleague of his.
"On
learning of their deaths, I asked myself again and again how it could be true,"
said Nikhita Nainani, the couple's friend. "They are so young."
A graduate of
the famous Les Roches Hotel Management College in Switzerland, Ledingham had
worked in hotels for about 10 years. He arrived in the city last September to
work for the local Les Roches as a program manager responsible for course design
and management. Seda accompanied him, and did training at a local hotel before
the tragedy.
"He was such a happy and extrovert man filled with love and
passion toward life," Ma said.
"He liked sharing his leisure time with
friends, always having coffee or hunting for food with us," Nainani recalled.
"Seda, like the other side of the mirror, was quiet."
He said the couple had
planned to marry this summer.
|
