TWO young sisters, aged four and eight, have been left orphaned after their father died in the Air India plane crash - just weeks after their mother died from cancer.
According to reports in The Independent, Arjun Patoliya had travelled to India to hold a funeral for his wife Bharti. After fulfilling his wife’s dying wish to scatter her ashes in Gujarat, Patoliya boarded the Air India flight to Gatwick to return home to his daughters.
The Air India AI-171 flight departed from Ahmedabad airport and after issuing a mayday call, it crashed into the residential area of Meghani Nagar just five minutes after takeoff, India’s civil aviation authority confirmed.
All but one of the passengers on the flight died after the Boeing 787 Dreamliner struck a medical college, before bursting into flames.
According to Air India, there were 230 passengers and 12 crew members onboard the aircraft. They included 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese citizens and one Canadian.
A campaign to raise money for the two girls has been launched by close family and friends, to provide the children with “security, stability, and love in the years ahead”.
“Now, these two beautiful young girls have been left without parents — their world turned upside down in just over two weeks,” the campaign reads.
The GoFundMe campaign has to date raised over £55,000 (RM317,000) of its £300,000 (RM1.7m) target. - June 15, 2025
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