NEED TO KNOW
- A father of two who had traveled from the U.K. to India to spread his wife’s ashes died in the June 12 Air India crash, leaving the couple’s two daughters orphaned
- Arjun Patoliya, 37, was among those killed when Air India Flight AI171 crashed into a residential area near Ahmedabad
- At the time of the crash, Arjun was on his way home to his 4- and 8-year-old daughters in London following his wife Bharti’s death from cancer just one week prior
Two young girls in London have been left without parents after their father died in the Air India crash earlier this week — following a trip to India to spread his late wife’s ashes in her home state of Gujarat.
According to the Daily Mail, 37-year-old Arjun Patoliya was among those killed when Air India Flight AI171 crashed into a residential area after it took off from Ahmedabad Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday, June 12.
The outlet reported that Arjun, a father of two, had traveled to a town in Gujarat — located about 150 miles from Ahmedabad — for his wife Bharti Patoliya’s funeral and to immerse an urn full of her ashes in a local river after her death in London just one week prior. Placing ashes in a holy river, such as the Ganges or Narmada, is a common practice in Hinduism.
The Daily Mail said Arjun was fulfilling one of his wife’s final wishes to have her ashes returned to her home state. The couple’s daughters, ages 4 and 8, stayed home in London, and Arjun was set to return home to them on June 12.
GoFundMe
Arjun was one of the more than 240 people killed after Air India Flight AI171 took off from Ahmedabad Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1:38 p.m. local time and then crashed into Meghani Nagar.
According to a GoFundMe page started by Arjun’s employer, Bharti died after a cancer diagnosis.
“Arjun left to bid farewell to his wife, never returned to the children they both raised. Now, these two beautiful young girls have been left without parents — their world turned upside down in just over two weeks,” the fundraiser states.
The GoFundMe, meant to help provide for the couple’s daughters, has garnered more than £422,000 (about $572,000) toward a £500,000 (about $678,000) goal.
Siddharaj Solanki/Bloomberg via Getty
Air India confirmed that there were 230 passengers and 12 crew members on board at the time of the crash on June 12.
The passengers included Indian, British and Portuguese nationals, as well as one person from Canada. Air India has not released an official number of people who have died from the crash, but CNN estimated that the death toll has risen to more than 290 people.
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Just seconds after taking off, the cockpit gave a mayday call to air traffic control, CNN reported. CCTV footage viewed by the BBC showed the plane being airborne for just 30 seconds before it plummeted to the ground.
The airline later confirmed that a British man was the “sole survivor” out of the 242 people on board.
In addition to those who died inside the plane, there were victims who were killed when the plane crashed into the residential area. A health official confirmed to the BBC that at least eight locals, including four medical students, died when the plane fell on a hostel.
The complete list of victims has not been released, but family members and loved ones have come forward to identify them.
One photo showed a family of five — including two parents and their three children — smiling while sitting aboard the flight. The father was later identified by his employer as Prateek Joshi, a radiologist at Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital Burton, and the mother as Dr. Komi Vyas. The Times of India identified their children as daughter Miraya and twin sons Pradyut and Nakul.
An official cause of the crash has not been disclosed, but investigators confirmed to ABC News that they recovered two black boxes from the crash site. Videos taken just before the crash also show that the plane did not rise high into the air after takeoff before it began gliding back down.
