Friends and community members are donating monetary support to a man and his wife after they lost their father in the Air India plane crash that happened in Ahmedabad on June 12.

The crashed Air India Flight AI117 took the life of Kirit Patel, who was travelling to the UK to visit his family in Pensford.

Kirit Patel was one of the 242 occupants of the Boeing Dreamliner that went down at a medical college and killed other people on the ground.

After his death, his son, Umang, was thrown into mourning, and he had to fly to India to identify his father's remains.

Umang and his wife, Vaishali, immediately flew from the UK to India, but they are not alone, many have begun donating to hep them cope with the heavy loss.

Umang, who runs the post office in Pensford on the outskirts of Bristol with his wife Vaishali, is well known to people in the area, and they volunteered to help financially.

One of the residents who came up with the idea was identified by the BBC as Jim Beacham. £7,000 (N14.7 million) has been raised to help the family cope with the expenses of travelling to India.

Jim Beacham said:

"The shop is losing money and it's costing them a fortune. We got to go some way to try and recompense. It sounds like a lot of money and he's going to spend more than that on his losses and travel costs.

It doesn't help about losing his dad but at least he knows people really love and respect him. During covid they were incredible, they kept the whole place going with deliveries. People remember that. I'm surprised by the support and it's wonderful people would do this."

Another resident of the village, Paul Hunt, told the BBC that Umang has been a good person since he came to Pensford.

He said:

"Umang has been a great guy in our village since he came here. I was absolutely distraught when I heard it."

Also speaking, Jonquil Anderson, who lives in the village, said the donations show that Umang is important to Pensford.

He told the BBC:

"It shows how important the family are in the village. We all go in there every day."

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the Indian-British national who survived the tragic Air India plane crash, attended his brother's burial.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh's brother, Ajay, did not make it out alive in the devastating incident that killed 241 on board the Boeing Dreamliner.

A video showed the moment Ramesh broke down emotionally when he saw his brother's coffin being carried by other mourners.

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Proofreading by Funmilayo Aremu, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng