Rasna girl among five from city killed in Nepal air crash

Mumbai Mirror

Mumbai, 15 May 2012: The victims, on board a Dornier 228 aircraft, were on their way to the famous Muktinath temple; three from Chennai, including children aged six and nine, survive Fourteen-year-old actress Taruni Sachdev, who became a known face across the country after featuring in Rasna commercials, and her mother Geeta were among the 13 Indians killed in the Nepal air crash on Monday morning. Besides Taruni and Geeta, three others from Mumbai - a family from Tardeo - were also killed in the crash.

 

 

Taruni, who started acting when she was barely six, had more than 50 advertisements to her credit, ranging from Colgate, Saffola, Reliance Mobile, LG Flatron and VIP Luggage, apart from the delightful ’I Love You Rasna’ commercials. She was last seen as ’Auro’ Amitabh Bachchan’s friend in the superhit movie Paa.

 

Taruni was one of the highest-paid child stars down south, and was especially hailed for her work in the movie titled Vellinakshatram, starring Prithviraj and Meenakshi.

 

 

The Arora family from Tardeo, identified as Kamal and Menaka Arora, and their son Shiv, had travelled to Nepal last Friday on a pilgrimage-cum-trekking trip. Around 10 am, when Tardeo resident Yash Mehra switched on the TV for the morning news, he couldn’t believe his eyes. A small plane had crashed after it was unable to land in a mountainous area of Nepal, and the news channels were showing the images of bodies being lifted from the site.

 

He knew that just a few hours ago, his sister Menaka, her husband Kamal, and their 23-year-old son Shiv had boarded a small-sized plane at Pokhara for Jomsom - around 200 kms north-west of Kathmandu - to visit the famous Muktinath temple. His worst fears came true when the ticker on the screen flashed the names of the deceased.

 

Nepal aviation officials said there were 21 people including 13 Indians on board the Dornier 228 aircraft operated by Agni Air, a Nepalese carrier. The plane was about a mile from the airport at Jomsom, a popular tourist town in central Nepal, when it went down, according to Purusottam Shakya, deputy director of air traffic service operations in Kathmandu.

 

Six of the 21 people on board survived the crash, including two children and a 40-year-old man, all from Chennai. The children have been identified as Sreevardhini, aged nine; Sreepada, aged six; and the man accompanying them was identified as Sreekanth. The other survivors were identified as Danish nationals Andreas and Emilie, and flight attendant Ragini Haiju.

 

 

Preliminary investigations said the pilot couldn’t land at Jomsom because of strong winds and was about to fly back to Pokhara. However, the plane hit a hillock, and broke into pieces after hitting the ground. All the Indians on board were headed for Muktinath temple, the Nepalese officials said.

 

 “The family were staunch believers of Lord Krishna, and frequented the ISKCON Temple at Juhu,” Mehra said, “They also have two other daughters.”