Vigil held outside Indian High Commission for victims of Air India crash

Yahoo

17 hours ago

Candles have been lit around a statue of Jawaharlal Nehru as members of the UK's Indian community gathered to honour the victims of the Air India plane crash.
About 150 people took part in the multi-faith vigil outside the Indian High Commission in Holborn, London, on Sunday afternoon.
Mourners had travelled from as far as Leicester and Bradford to pay tribute, organisers said.
The statue of Nehru – India's first prime minister and a central figure in the country's independence movement – was surrounded by flowers, tealights and photographs of those killed in Thursday's crash.
At least 270 people died when flight AI171 to Gatwick crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad.
Nilesh Solanki, 50, from the City Hindus Network and Action for Harmony, told those gathered: 'When so many lives are lost in an instant, it's hard to comprehend – and we ask the question why.
'Families, hopes, friends, people – vanished.
'Without even knowing the individuals, we felt the pain of these families.
'Coming together in this way is really important – it's a lesson for all of us to reflect.'
Among the mourners were members of the Brahma Kumaris spiritual movement, dressed in white to symbolise peace and remembrance.
Several mourners were brought to tears during the vigil as names of the victims were read out.
Organiser Pranav Bhanot, 36, a lawyer from London, told PA news agency: 'We felt so helpless hearing about the crash.
'We wanted to do something about it.
'An air crash is always going to be quite devastating. We're only a small island nation – we had friends, parents on that flight.
'We wanted to do something special to remember and recognise them.'
Authorities in India have begun handing over the remains of victims after identifying some through DNA testing, following one of the country's worst air disasters.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed into a residential area in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off on Thursday.
Most of the victims were severely burned, making identification difficult.
Officials say 270 bodies have now been recovered, and only one passenger – a 40-year-old British man – survived.