In a sequence of events too cruel to comprehend, two London sisters – aged just 4 and 8 – lost both parents within weeks this June. First their mother Bharti lost her battle with cancer on May 28. Then on June 12, their father Arjun died aboard the doomed Air India flight while returning from scattering her ashes in India.
The 37-year-old IT consultant had made the emotional trip alone to fulfill his wife’s final request, leaving daughters Kiara and Meera with relatives. He texted “See you soon, my princesses” before boarding the fateful flight in Ahmedabad. Minutes later, the plane crashed, claiming all aboard in India’s deadliest air disaster since 1990.
“One tragedy would be unbearable. Two is unimaginable,” said the girls’ aunt, Priya Mehta. The family has been overwhelmed by global support, with over £576,000 raised for the sisters’ future through a viral GoFundMe campaign titled “Keep Kiara and Meera Smiling.”
Their grandmother Kanchan, 62, will relocate from Mumbai to London to help raise the girls. “We will fill their lives with stories about how much their parents loved them,” she vowed.
