Julias Durant Periera, who would have turned 38 this month, was a resident of Lokmanya Nagar in Duttawadi. He was working as a materials coordinator on a ship of an oil company in Dubai for the last one year. His shell-shocked family and friends they had been preparing to celebrate his birthday on September 28.

“Julias was a simple and hardworking man. This is a big shock to all of us,” said Sameer Pathan, a friend.

Julias Periera’s brothers, Peter and Savio, also work abroad. All three had recently come to Pune for a family gathering. “For Julias, it was the last visit home,” a relative said. The body will be sent to Pune for the last rites.

Julias had worked with the company for a year. The helicopter crashed into an oil rig off the coast of Dubai around 8.20 pm, killing all seven people on board, including Pareira, another Indian, a Briton, a Pakistani, a Filipino and a Venezuelan.

The helicopter was flying from Dubai’s main international airport to the Rashid oilfield, around 70 kilometres off the coast. The aircraft crashed onto the deck of a drilling rig after which it broke up and fell into the sea. The bodies were recovered on Thursday afternoon.