Vigil for victims of deadly Air India plane crash brings Londoners together in their sadness

Isha Bhargava · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 15, 2025 5:47 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

London, Ont.'s South Asian assemblage says it's standing agreed successful its grief for victims of Thursday's deadly Air India level clang successful the Gujarati metropolis of Ahmedabad, that has killed astatine slightest 270 radical and injured dozens others. 

Various taste associations from the diaspora held a vigil connected Sunday astatine Victoria Park. Members of antithetic spiritual faiths joinedto commune for those who mislaid their lives successful 1 of India's worst aviation disasters successful decades. 

"We've been unneurotic for the past 17 years successful our happiness and our sorrows and this was tragic news, for not lone the Indian community, but everyone is affected," said Shams Syed, president of the South Asian Association of London and Surrounding Area. 

"We truly consciousness atrocious for the families and the radical near down and we're each praying successful our ain ways. It doesn't person to beryllium immoderate religion oregon caste," said Syed, whose enactment represents members from India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The Boeing 787 bound for London's Gatwick Airport struck a aesculapian assemblage hostel successful a residential country of the northwest Indian metropolis minutes aft takeoff Thursday, sidesplitting 241 radical connected committee and astatine slightest 29 connected the ground. 

Nirali Sureshkumar Patel, a dentist from Mississauga, Ont., was among those who died. A British nationalist was the lone survivor. 

As of Sunday, officials said they've identified 32 victims utilizing DNA mapping and person started handing implicit remains. Most of the bodies were charred oregon mutilated, making them unrecognizable.

While authorities are inactive investigating what led to the fatal crash, hundreds of relatives of the victims person been providing DNA samples to place the remains of their loved ones. On Friday, Indian investigators recovered the integer formation information recorder, oregon the plane's achromatic box, from a rooftop adjacent the clang site, they said. 

"Most of the radical who died successful the incidental are Gujarati, and it feels truly atrocious that this galore radical from 1 assemblage died astatine the aforesaid time. Some of them were young kids and families truthful we consciousness bittersweet that this happened," said St. Thomas resident Nimish Patel, who was astatine the vigil.  

Patel said watching radical from different communities amusement up successful solidarity has been heartwarming. 

"It's bully to spot everybody supporting, it's a bully motion that radical are unneurotic and it doesn't substance what civilization oregon faith, we each basal together," helium said. 

Attendees astatine Sunday's vigil offered their ain spiritual prayers for the deceased souls. It was besides an accidental for everyone affected by the calamity to find a consciousness of unity present astatine home, said Lakhwinder Kathuria, president of St. Thomas' Punjabi Cultural Association.  

"We are from antithetic communities and have antithetic ways to pray, truthful astatine slightest we tin each commune for them successful our ain ways," helium said. "We are each humans, it hurts our hearts when more than 240 innocent people mislaid their lives, it's truly sad."

It's important for assemblage members to travel unneurotic and supply each different solace during this hard time, careless of their backgrounds, said Syed, who is primitively from Pakistan. 

"If we are together, we tin amusement our spot and we are a large ample South Asian household and that's the spot of the community."