Latest news with #RanjithaGopakumaran
News18
14 hours ago
- General
- News18
'She Dreamt Of Coming Home She Built': Tearful Adieu To Kerala Nurse Killed In Air Plane Crash
Last Updated: Ranjitha Gopakumaran, 42, a native of Pullad, was working at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, England Ranjitha Gopakumaran, a nurse from Kerala's Pathanamthitta district who died in the tragic Air India AI 171 crash on June 12, was laid to rest on Tuesday with thousands gathering to pay their last respects. The 42-year-old, a native of Pullad, was working at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, England. She had returned to Kerala briefly to oversee the final stages of her new house's construction and to request an extension of leave from the state health department. She was due to return to the UK when tragedy struck. Ranjitha's body was flown from Ahmedabad to Thiruvananthapuram early Tuesday morning. Her remains were first taken to her alma mater, Sree Vivekananda High School in Pullad, where hundreds of locals, students, and well-wishers lined up to pay their respects. From there, the procession moved to her partially completed dream home, where she had hoped to settle in three months with her two children and widowed mother. The emotional farewell was attended by several ministers, including V. Sivankutty, G. R. Anil, V. N. Vasavan, and Saji Cherian, alongside senior political leaders like CPI(M)'s M. A. Baby and Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan. Representatives from NORKA ROOTS and police officials were also present. A single mother, Ranjitha had recently enrolled her son and daughter in classes 10 and 7 at the same school she once studied in. She was looking forward to rejoining Kerala's health service and settling in her hometown, Indian Express reported. Her nursing career had taken her from Oman to the UK. In 2019, she was selected for the Kerala state health service and worked at the Pathanamthitta District Hospital before taking long leave to work abroad again. She moved to England last year to support her family. Ranjitha's remains were kept at her home for public viewing before cremation was held in the evening. Her final journey was accompanied by her brother and a close relative. First Published:
Indian Express
20 hours ago
- Health
- Indian Express
Air India crash: Months from being finished, Kerala nurse's dream house becomes stage of last homage
Ranjitha Gopakumaran, the nurse from Kerala's Pathanamthitta who died in the Air India flight AI 171 crash on June 12, received an emotional farewell from her state on Tuesday. Ranjitha, 42, a native of Pullad in Pathanamthitta, was returning to her workplace – the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, England – after a brief visit to Kerala to oversee the construction of her new house and to request that the state health service extend her leave. Her body, which was flown to Kerala from Ahmedabad on Tuesday, was taken to the premises of the house that was her dream, and where she wanted to move in three months later with her two schoolgoing children and her widowed mother. Before being taken home, her body was taken to her alma mater, Sree Vivekanandan High School in Pullad, where thousands queued up to pay homage. In the first week of June, Ranjitha, a single parent, had enrolled her son, Induchoodan, and daughter, Ithika, in the same school, in classes 10 and 7, respectively. She expected to return from England this year to settle in the village and rejoin the state health service as a nurse. On June 11, the day she left for Ahmedabad to catch the flight to London the next day, Ranjitha had given detailed suggestions on the remaining construction work. A nurse for over a decade, Ranjitha worked in Oman until 2019, when she got selected for the state health service. She returned to Kerala and joined as a staff nurse at the Pathanamthitta District Hospital in Kozhencherry. Later, she took a long leave and went back to Oman. A year ago, Ranjitha moved to England to work with the National Health Service there. On Tuesday, when her body reached the state capital, 12 days after the tragedy, ministers, police officials and representatives of NORKA ROOTS were among the thousands who gathered to pay homage.
Indian Express
13-06-2025
- Indian Express
Kerala revenue official ‘insults' nurse who died in Ahmedabad Air India crash, suspended
The Kerala government on Friday suspended a senior revenue department official for allegedly making insulting comments about nurse Ranjitha Gopakumaran, who was killed in Thursday's plane crash near Ahmedabad airport. Revenue Minister K Rajan suspended A Pavithran, deputy tehsildar of Vellarikundu taluk in Kerala's Kasaragod district, and called his Facebook post about the nurse 'heinous'. He said the suspension was ordered as soon as the official's post came to the government's notice. In the now-deleted Facebook post, Pavithran allegedly made casteist and obscene comments regarding Ranjitha, who worked as a nurse in the United Kingdom. When the comments started being widely circulated, the official withdrew them. Ranjitha, a nurse who was originally from Pathanamthitta district, was returning to the UK where she had been working for around a year, when the plane she was travelling in met with the accident. She is survived by her husband, Vineesh, two school-going children, and her mother, Thulasi. According to panchayat member Johnson Thomas, 'Ranjitha came home from the UK three days ago. She got the job of a nurse in the health service there, but had come home on a short leave to oversee the construction of her new house.' Since she moved to the UK around a year ago, she had been wanting to complete her job contract there. 'She planned to return to Kerala and work with the state health service,' the panchayat member said. Air India flight AI-171 with 242 people on board crashed into a residential area near the Ahmedabad airport minutes after take-off on Thursday afternoon. It was headed to London from Ahmedabad. According to officials, only one of those on board survived. Several people on the ground, including students at a medical college dining hall that the plane crashed into, have also died or have been injured.
