Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 16 (IANS): The wife of a Keralite, who was killed during the exchange of firing between paramilitary forces and the Sudanese Army in Khartoum, has appealed to the Indian government to extend help to retrieve the body from the flat where they were living.

Speaking to reporters over telephone from Khartoum, Saibella on Sunday said that the ambulance that had come to take the body of her husband, Albert Augustine, was not allowed to remove his body as fighting was continuing in that area

Saibella, who was on a holiday to join her husband in Khartoum, said that she was now staying in the basement of the flat building along with the neighbours and her daughter who is in the Class 6, and had not consumed food for the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V. Muraleedharan said that the government was taking steps to bring the body of Augustine back to India and efforts are on to rescue his family.

Augustine, an ex-serviceman, had joined as a private company in Khartoum as a security officer seven months ago and was shot dead on Saturday night when a stray bullet hit during fighting between paramilitary forces and the army in the Sudanese capital.