Every seat was taken at a Hindu temple in Harrow, northwest London, as people gathered on Saturday afternoon to pray for the victims of the Air India flight disaster, the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade and one that reverberated throughout Britain.
Following Hindu prayers in front of gleaming statues of the religion’s many gods at the International Siddhashram Shakti Centre, members of different religions took the stage one by one. They offered Sikh, Islamic, Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian prayers for the victims in the plane and on the ground, as well as for all the loved ones they left behind.
Among the worshipers, wearing vibrantly colored saris and smart suits, were children in dinosaur T-shirts and well-wishers in summer dresses and shorts, who had come together to support the many bereaved members of their community. In addition to the 52 British passengers who died, many other victims lived in England and had been journeying home from Ahmedabad, the largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat.
Several victims came from Harrow, including Arjun Patoliya, 37. His wife had recently died, and he had gone to India to perform religious rituals for her in her hometown, according to people at the service who knew him. Mr. Patoliya’s death in the crash left their two young daughters orphaned.
At least 20 people on flight AI171 had links to the International Siddhashram Shakti Centre, according to its founder, known as Shri Rajrajeshwar Guruji, who is also from Gujarat.
Dealing with death and mourning is part of his role as a spiritual leader, he said, “but this type of death is unbelievable.”
He recalled speaking to one of the victims two weeks ago, just before he travelled to India: “He said ‘Guruji, when I will be back, we’ll get together.’ Now that day is never going to come.”
Connections between Britain and Ahmedabad, where Flight AI171 took off on Thursday afternoon before crashing seconds later, run deep. More than 600,000 British Gujaratis — members of the ethno-linguistic group with links to the state of Gujarat — are thought to live in Britain today.
Some came via Uganda in the 1970s, after the dictator Idi Amin expelled his country’s Asian population and Britain gave refuge to about 27,000 people. They settled in towns and cities throughout Britain, particularly London and Leicester, in the Midlands, the hometown of the disaster’s sole survivor. Others came from India in the 1950s and 1960s.
But in tightly knit communities like Harrow, the links to those killed in Thursday’s disaster run far beyond the Gujarati community.
Simon Ovens, a former Metropolitan Police officer who holds the ceremonial post of Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Harrow, attended the memorial as an official representative of the royal family. “There will be very few families that won’t know someone who has someone involved in that airplane crash,” he said. “I think the damage will take a long, long time to repair.”
Mr. Ovens read a statement from King Charles during the ceremony, which took place at the same time as the grand “Trooping the Color” military parade outside Buckingham Palace, an annual event to celebrate the King’s birthday. The King asked members of the royal family who took part in the parade to wear black armbands as a mark of respect for the crash victims.
Among the victims was a relative of Anjana Patel, the mayor of Harrow, who attended the memorial service in her ceremonial, fur-lined red robes and golden chain. She said she took the same Ahmedabad to London Gatwick flight herself in January, after visiting relatives in Gujarat with her mother.
“It really does break my heart to even think about it, and I was very emotional when I heard the news,” Ms. Patel said. “We believe that everyone who is born has to go one day, but I hope that nobody goes this way.”
Amid the grief and shock, many of those at the ceremony were demanding answers. During his speech to the congregation, Bob Blackman, who represents the Harrow East district in Parliament, asked: “How did this happen? Was there anything that could have been done to prevent this?”
Mr. Blackman said bereaved families would expected “absolute transparency” from the investigation into the cause of the crash, “because without that, people will not have closure.”
British and American teams have traveled to India to support officials from the country’s aircraft accident investigation authority as recovery work continues.
At least 270 bodies had been recovered from the site of the crash by Saturday evening, officials in India said. Only one of the 242 passengers and crew on board survived, and dozens more people were killed when the plane struck a medical school dining hall.
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