Two young sisters in London orphaned within 18 days

Time of India

13-06-2025

Surat: Two little sisters in London, just 8 and 4 years old, have been orphaned in the span of just 18 days. Still mourning the loss of their mother, Bharti, who died of cancer on May 26 in London, they have now lost their father, Arjun Patoliya, in the tragic AI-171 plane crash in Ahmedabad.
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Thirty-seven-year-old Arjun travelled to India to fulfil his wife's last wish — that her post-death rituals be performed in Gujarat. He immersed her ashes in the Narmada River at Nilkanthdham in Poicha, 60 km from Vadodara, and at their native Vadiya village in Amreli district. Arjun was returning to London when fate dealt another cruel blow. His mother lives in Surat.
"My Bhabhi Bharti wanted her last rites done in India, so Arjun brought her ashes here.
We could never have imagined that within days, we would be performing his rites too," said Arjun's cousin Sanjay.
Arjun faced major hardships in life since childhood after losing his father in 1990. Raised by his mother, who sold cutlery and household items to make ends meet, he studied up to grade 12 at Swaminarayan Gurukul in Surat before moving to the UK at the age of 20. He lived in London for the past 17 years.
There, he ran a furniture shop and met Bharti, who worked as an accountant.
They married and built a life together, raising two daughters. Bharti hailed from Kutch district, and her family is now settled in Ahmedabad.
The family only recently gathered at the Narmada River last Sunday to perform Bharti's final rites — an emotional and heavy moment. But just as they began to process their loss, tragedy struck again with Arjun's death in the plane crash.
Arjun's younger brother Gopal, who also lives in London, is now caring for the two children. Their mother, who once sent Arjun to Surat for education, gave her DNA sample to help identify his body so it could be brought back to Vadiya for the last rites.