Two young sisters, aged 4 and 8, have been orphaned after losing both parents within 18 days. Their mother, Bharti Patoliya, died following a battle with cancer. Two weeks later, their father, 37-year-old Arjun Patoliya, was among the 270 victims of the Air India plane crash on July 12 — India’s worst aviation disaster in over 30 years.
Arjun, a British national, had traveled to India to scatter Bharti’s ashes in her hometown of Gujarat, fulfilling her final wish. The aircraft crashed less than a minute after takeoff, and the cause is still under investigation.
A GoFundMe campaign has raised over £576,000 to support the girls, with funds going directly to a legal trust or guardians. Arjun’s mother, Kanchan Patoliya, said she or her younger son will take care of the children, with plans to bring them back to London.