Malaysian Indian Bishop laid to rest

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 10 (IANS) The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia, Bishop Julius Danaraj Paul, was buried at the Subang Lutheran Garden near Bukit Jelutong at Shah Alam after he drowned in Guatemala. He was an ethnic Indian.

The ceremony was attended by church leaders from India, Sweden, Australia and the church's headquarter in Geneva.

This put an end to the anguish of his family that had waited 16 days for his body to be brought home from Guatemala where he drowned in a boat accident last month.

Mourners packed the Zion Lutheran Cathedral in Brickfields to pay their last respects.

Paul, 63, had gone to Guatemala to chair a Lutheran World Federation committee meeting and was hours away from his flight home when the accident happened Nov 23, The New Straits Times said Wednesday.

Paul drowned with two others when the boat they were in capsized during a visit to Lake Atitlan.

Not having a Malaysian mission at the Latin American nation, red tape and logistical difficulties slowed the return of his body, The Star newspaper said.