A Hyderabad-based businessman, P Venkata Shashidar, was among the five people who died in an accident in Ethiopia.
Ramakrishna, a business associate and friend of Shashidar, told ANI, "Venkata Shashidar had been to Ethiopia for business. For the last one-and-half-year, he has been frequently visiting Ethiopia. On March 9, he went to Ethiopia with a Japanese team for mining purpose. On Tuesday morning, they were on their way to a mining spot when a blast took place and killed all five who were in the vehicle. We don't have exact information yet."
He added, "In the incident, five people were travelling and all of them died. On Wednesday morning, the Indian Embassy said some accident occurred and they said we are trying to identify what exactly happened."
Contrary to this, several media reports claimed that a person carrying a gun had killed the five persons in Ethiopia on Tuesday while they were travelling to a mining site.