Village postmaster's dad named as Air India victim

Kirit Patel was heading to Pensford to visit his family for the summer

The father of the village postmaster has been named among those who died in the Air India plane crash last week.

Kirit Patel was killed when the London-bound Air India plane crashed soon after taking off on Thursday from Ahmedabad, along with 240 other passengers.

His son Umang, who runs the post office in Pensford on the outskirts of Bristol with his wife Vaishali, has flown to India and a crowdfunder has been launched by locals to help him.

Jim Beacham, a local resident who came up with the idea to raise money, said: "The shop is losing money and it's costing them a fortune. We got to go some way to try and recompense."

Kirit was heading to the village to spend the summer with his family as he had done for the past decade.

The crowdfunder has raised more than £7,000 from at least 200 contributors.

Umang (right) and Vaishali Patel (left) run the Pensford post office together

"It sounds like a lot of money and he's going to spend more than that on his losses and travel costs," Mr Beacham said.

"It doesn't help about losing his dad but at least he knows people really love and respect him.

"During covid they were incredible, they kept the whole place going with deliveries. People remember that.

"I'm surprised by the support and it's wonderful people would do this."

Jim Beacham had the idea for the crowdfunder which many thousands of pounds has been raised

Paul Hunt, a local resident, said: "Umang has been a great guy in our village since he came here.

"I was absolutely distraught when I heard it."

Jonquil Anderson, who lives in the village, said: "It shows how important the family are in the village. We all go in there every day."

In total 270 bodies have been recovered from the site of the plane crash.

The plane was carrying 242 people when it crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, in western India, including 53 Britons.