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Temple vigil held for India plane crash victims

Gemma Sherlock
BBC News, Lancashire
BBC A group of men and women sit in a large room on red carpet. Their knees are crossed and they are holding their hands in prayer. BBC
People gathered at the temple in Preston in a show of solidarity

Prayers were held at a Hindu temple in Lancashire for those who lost their lives in the Air India crash in Ahmedabad.

The London Gatwick-bound flight crashed soon after take-off from the city's airport in the western state of Gujarat at about 09:00 BST on Thursday, killing 242 people on board. One person - a British man - survived.

Crowds gathered at the Gujarat Hindu Society Temple in Preston on Friday to pray for those who had died and their loved ones.

Temple president Ishwer Tailor said he hoped the vigil would give people some "consolation".

Mr Tailor said Preston has a large Gujarati community and admitted he wanted to do something sooner than the weekend "with people being in shock".

"It is a catastrophe not just for people who have passed away but also for India," he said.

"We have had several people coming up to us and telling stories of some of their friends and relatives who have perished in this terrible accident and the stories keep coming."

Ishwer Tailor with balding, grey and dark hair, wears a blue and white checked shirt with a grey sweatshirt, and is looking to the left of the camera as he sits in a chair with a room full of people in a restaurant setting.
Ishwer Tailor said the vigil and temple was open to people of all communities

He said the temple doors would remain open for all communities.

"Whole families have been destroyed. All we can do in this moment in time is pray and make sure we remember them in our prayers," he said.

A man wearing a blue silk shirt and beige waistcoat sits with his hands crossed. He is sitting on a red carpet, leaning on a wooden panel wall, next to him is a decorate ornament with colourful scarfs. Other men can be seen in the background, also sitting and speaking into microphones.
Prayers were said for the victims and their loved ones

There were 53 Britons on board the flight, along with 169 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian.

One couple who died in the crash - 72-year-old Adam Taju and his wife Hasina, 70 - were described as the "foundation of our family" by their granddaughters, from Blackburn, Lancashire.

Additional reporting by Anna Jameson and Nishma Hindocha

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