Vigil for 'kind' nurse who died in plane crash
A vigil has been held for a "kind and compassionate" nurse who died in the Air India plane crash on Thursday.
Renjitha Gopakumaran Nair had recently resigned from her job at Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra (QA) Hospital and travelled to India to submit documents for a nursing post in Kerala, where she planned to move back to.
A vigil was held for her at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, as part of a sports day event organised by the Union of UK Malayalee Associations (UUKMA) - which friends said Ms Renjitha had been hoping to attend.
Leena Furtado, who worked with her at the QA Hospital, said she was "very kind and humble" and her death was "the biggest loss".
"Once you meet Renjitha, there is no way you will forget her," she said.
"She was a very humble person with a smile on her face all the time."
She said there were "no words" to express the loss.
"When we heard the news, and when we saw it's her name especially, it was heart-breaking," she said.
"[We] can't express what it is we're feeling."
Eldhose Mathew, who ran a shop where Ms Renjitha was a regular customer, said her death was "unbelievable".
"She was not just a customer - she was just like family," he said.
"She always came into the shop with a very good smile, and always was respectful and warm."
In a eulogy read out at the event, Ms Renjitha's death was described as leaving "a deep void" in the community.
"[She was] a shining light in our community - a gentle soul whose warmth, kindness and humble presence touched many lives," it read.
"She carried with her the spirit of Kerala while building a life in the United Kingdom.
"[Her] life though brief, was full of meaning and love."
All but one of the London-bound plane's 242 passengers and crew members died when it crashed in a residential area in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off on Thursday.
One of the UUKMA's leaders, Edy Sebastian, said Ms Renjitha had an elderly mother, as well as a daughter aged about 12, and a son, who was about 15.
You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
'Much-loved' nurse among plane crash victims
Air India plane crash death toll rises to 270
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
7 People, Including a 2-Year-Old, Killed in Helicopter Crash in India, Just Days After Air India Tragedy
A helicopter carrying a number of people to holy sites in the Himalayan mountains in India has crashed, killing seven people A 2-year-old child was among the passengers on the Bell 407 helicopter when it went down in a forested area Sunday's crash comes just days after a London-bound Air India plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing nearly all of its passengersSeven people have died in a helicopter crash in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. According to the BBC, a helicopter carrying visitors to a number of Hindu religious pilgrimage sites in the Himalayan mountains crashed on Sunday, June 15, during what would have been a 10-minute flight. Per the Associated Press, the helicopter, which was being operated by private helicopter service company Aryan Aviation, took off at 5:19 a.m. local time and went down in a forested area at around 5:30 a.m. Officials told the outlets that investigators currently believe the crash was caused by poor weather conditions. The helicopter was a Bell 407, a four-blade, single-engine vessel made for civilian use, according to reports. The BBC reported that the helicopter's pilot and a 2-year-old child were among those killed, per the directorate general of civil aviation. The vessel's passengers included residents from the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, as well as the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, per the AP. All of the bodies were badly burned in a fire following the crash. Officials said that India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will investigate the incident. Local official Nandan Singh Rajwar told the AP that authorities have also launched a rescue and search operation. "The helicopter accident in Rudraprayag is extremely unfortunate," Pushkar Singh Dhami, the chief minister of Uttarakhand, wrote in Hindi in a statement on X. "I express my deepest condolences to the deceased in this painful accident." "... A high level meeting was held with all the concerned departments at the Government House to thoroughly review this accident," the minister added. "The safety procedures of helicopter operations are being closely examined." The BBC reported that the country's Civil Aviation Ministry suspended the operations of Aryan Aviation, per the Press Trust of India. The company did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. The region is home to one of the four most sacred Hindu holy sites, and tens of thousands of visitors make a pilgrimage — called the Char Dham Yatra — to the temples each summer, according to the AP. The mountainous terrain is also known for being extremely difficult to navigate due to its sudden weather changes and high altitude. The outlet reported that Sunday's crash was the fifth in the area since April 30. India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation has been asked to oversee all helicopter activity in the region following Sunday's crash, per the AP. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Sunday's crash also comes just days after a London-bound Air India crashed shortly after takeoff, killing nearly all of its passengers. The plane, which was flying from Ahmedabad in western India and was bound for London's Gatwick Airport, crashed into a residential area five minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. local time on Thursday, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, told the AP. 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. The BBC reported that officials say there was at least one confirmed survivor of the crash, who was traveling in seat 11A on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner flight. Read the original article on People
News24
6 hours ago
- News24
Families hold funerals for Air India crash victims
Mourners covered white coffins with flowers in India on Sunday as funerals were held for some of the at least 279 people killed in one of the world's worst plane crashes in decades. Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them to grieving relatives in the western city of Ahmedabad, but the wait went on for most families. "They said it would take 48 hours. But it's been four days and we haven't received any response," said Rinal Christian, 23, whose elder brother was a passenger on the jetliner. There was one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the London-bound Air India jet when it crashed Thursday into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground as well. "My brother was the sole breadwinner of the family," Christian told AFP. "So what happens next?" At a crematorium in the city, around 20 to 30 mourners chanted prayers in a funeral ceremony for Megha Mehta, a passenger who had been working in London. According to Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad's civil hospital, 47 crash victims had been identified as of Sunday evening. "This is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only," Patel said. One victim's relative who did not want to be named told AFP they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they receive it. Witnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains. Workers went on clearing debris from the site on Sunday, while police inspected the area. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff. The majority of those injured on the ground have been discharged, Patel said, with one or two remaining in critical care. 'We need to know' Indian authorities have yet to identify the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India's Dreamliners. Authorities announced on Sunday that the second black box, the cockpit voice recorder, had been recovered. This may offer investigators more clues about what went wrong. Siddharaj Solanki/Bloomberg via Getty Images Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the first black box, the flight data recorder, would "give an in-depth insight" into the circumstances of the crash. Imtiyaz Ali, who was still waiting for a DNA match to find his brother, said the airline should have supported families faster. "I'm disappointed in them. It is their duty," said Ali, who was contacted by the airline on Saturday. He told AFP: Next step is to find out the reason for this accident. We need to know. One person escaped alive from the wreckage, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members. Among the passengers was a father of two young girls, Arjun Patoliya, who had travelled to India to scatter his wife's ashes following her death weeks earlier. "I really hope that those girls will be looked after by all of us," said Anjana Patel, the mayor of London's Harrow borough where some of the victims lived. "We don't have any words to describe how the families and friends must be feeling," she added. While communities were in mourning, one woman recounted how she survived by arriving late at the airport. "The airline staff had already closed the check-in," said 28-year-old Bhoomi Chauhan. "At that moment, I kept thinking that if only we had left a little earlier, we wouldn't have missed our flight," she told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Vigil held outside Indian High Commission for victims of Air India crash
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.
