‘It’s a huge tragedy’
Two teenage girls from Brampton, along with their parents and grandparents, were lost during a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip to Kenya when Flight 302 went down. Details are emerging about the 157 people who died, including 18 Canadians
Manant Vaidya will never again hear the angelic voice of his 14-year-old niece or watch her younger sister perform folk dances at family gatherings — memories he’ll cherish as he grapples with the loss of six family members in Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines crash.
What was supposed to be a dream March break trip to Kenya for the Brampton family ended tragically when the aircraft crashed minutes after takeoff near Addis Ababa, killing 157 people, including 18 Canadians. Manant Vai- dya’s sister Kosha Vaidya, 37, her husband, Prerit Dixit, 45, their daughters, Ashka Dixit, 14, and Anushka Dixit, 13, and his parents Pannagesh Vaidya, 73, and Hansini Vaidya, 68, were among the victims.
“It’s a huge tragedy,” said Manant Vaidya, 41, sitting next to his sobbing wife, Hiral. “She’s the only sister I’ve got. I lost my parents and I lost my sister. I don’t have anybody else.”
The couple is still struggling to cope with the loss of so many family members, so suddenly.
“The news came at night,” said Hiral. “Our phone rang like 15, 20 times.”
A family friend broke the news to them, but they ended up going to the airport to get confirmation. “They had a list of the family members,” she said.
“It’s really hard to believe that this thing happened. It’s hard to recover because we lost six members. And they were all very close to us.”
Flags at Chinguacousy Secondary School, which Ashka attended, and Centennial Sr. Public School, where
Anushka was a student, will be lowered to half-staff on Tuesday to honour the girls, Peel District School Board said in a note posted on Twitter.
“This tragedy has brought great sadness to the students and staff,” the statement said.
Hiral Vaidya fondly recalls Ashka singing every chance she got — something she revelled in at family gatherings.
“Her voice is really brilliant,” she said. Her younger sister, meanwhile, would entertain the family with Indian folk dances.
Manant Vaidya said he has been in constant contact with Canadian officials and the Indian Embassy for any news on recovery of remains — something critical in the Hindu faith.
“We’re waiting for them to give us some news that they found some body parts,” Hiral said. “Even if it’s their jewelry. We’re hoping some news comes by Thursday. “We need their ashes,” she said.
The couple said they dropped the family off at the airport Saturday morning so they could start their vacation, which was to last for10 days. “They were all very excited about the trip,” Hiral said.
The night before their departure Hiral and her mother-inlaw prayed — something the two treasured doing as part of their Hindu religion.
“I didn’t know that I would never get the chance to have them back,” she said.
Manant said his sister, Kosha, was born in Mombasa, Kenya, and came to Canada with her husband in 2003. Manant’s parents became permanent residents of Canada in 2012.
Kosha worked in human resources at the Canadian Hearing Society, while Prerit Dixit worked as a lab assistant at LifeLabs.
“Prerit was a dedicated member of our team for the last 18 years — a professional who brought great joy to all of us who had the pleasure of working with him,” Suset Silva, director of corporate communications for LifeLabs said.
Manant said his sister was thrilled about bringing her daughters to her birthplace. It was also a much anticipated trip for the girls’ grandparents, who hadn’t been to Kenya in over 30 years.
“It was once in a lifetime,” Manant said of the trip. The family also wanted to reconnect with friends and go on safari, something the young girls were excited about. Manant has so many questions about what triggered the crash. He said his brother-inlaw was meticulous about vetting everything from an airliner’s track record, to reviews of its on-time performance, food and customer service of each carrier, before booking.
“He did his homework,” he said.