Eight devotees from the ISKCON temple in Chowpatty, Mumbai were amongst the fifteen killed in a tragic airplane crash on Monday May 14th.

The devotees were on their way to a pilgrimage at Nepal’s Muktinath Temple, located at the foot of the Thorong La pass in the Himalayas. One of the most ancient temples of Lord Narayana, it is often mentioned as one of the most sacred places for Sri Vaishnavas.

The plane, a small Dornier 228 aircraft belonging to local carrier Agni Air which the devotees had chartered from the Nepali city of Pokhara, crashed a mile from the high altitude Jomsom airport in Mustang district. Reports suggested that it lost balance due to strong winds, hit a hillock, and broke into pieces just after the pilot reported a problem at around 9:45am local time.

The devotees who passed away were Kunjabihari Dasa and his wife Madhupriya Dasi and son Shivam; Murlimohan Dasa and his brother Gagan; Gaura Krishna Dasa; and Gokulrani Dasi and her daughter Taruni.

Kunjabihari Dasa supported the Chowpatty temple devotees with his jewelery business, while his wife Madhupriya was a record-breaking book distributor for many years. Both were devotees for over twenty years, and regularly organized and hosted major spiritual programs.

Thirty-three-year-old Murlimohan Dasa, a professional fashion designer, was known for designing beautiful outfits for the Deities at ISKCON Mumbai’s Chowpatty and Juhu temples, as well as his devoted care of his own large home Radha-Krishna Deities. His brother Gagan, 27, was also a thriving young member of the Mumbai ISKCON community.

Gaura Krishna Dasa, a disciple of Bhakti Raghava Swami, had left his successful career as a software engineer in the USA to become a celibate monk at the Chowpatty temple. There, for the past six years, he took on many responsible services, including heading up the Deity dress-making department, helping organize Rathayatra festivals, running Radhanath Swami’s website, and handling all the temple’s IT needs.

Meanwhile Gokulrani Dasi, who had been a devotee for more than twenty years, also passed away in the accident, along with her thirteen-year-old daughter Taruni.

Taruni was a child actor of some fame, having appeared in nearly fifty major TV ads, including a particularly successful series of commercials for Rasna soft drinks along with Bollywood actress Karisma Kapoor, which led to her being affectionately known as “the Rasna girl.” She also appeared in several feature films alongside major actors such as Hrithik Roshan and Amitabh Bhachchan, with whom she starred in the 2009 hit Paa.

Bhachchan, one of the biggest stars in Indian cinema, mourned her passing in a Twitter post soon after the crash was reported: “Just reading that Tarini Sachdev, the girl child artist in Paa, has perished in a Nepal plane crash,” he wrote. “Please God may this not be true. I am so shaken… She was the most bright and beautiful little girl…”

At ISKCON Chowpatty, Taruni was also known for performing in numerous Krishna conscious dramas, and for her appealing and uplifting personality.

Three persons from Chennai—Sanam Sundhar, Mr. G. Raman, and Latha Ethambai—also passed away in the airplane crash, as did the two Nepali pilots.

There were six survivors, who were pulled from the wreckage by soldiers from a nearby Nepali army barracks. Among them were a Nepali air hostess, an Indian man who was treated for head injuries, and two Indian children: Sreevardhini, aged nine, and Sreepada, aged six, whose mother Latha Ethambai was killed in the crash. Two Danish trekkers, a man and woman in their early thirties—Emilie Joergensen and Andreas Rasch—also survived.

Radhanath Swami, leader of the ISKCON Chowpatty community, was in New Vrindaban, USA, at the time of the crash, and dedicated a night of kirtan there to the victims. He is reported to have changed his schedule to return to Mumbai to attend their last rites.

Funeral services for Kunjabihari Dasa, Madhupriya Dasi, their son Shivam, Gokulrani Dasi and her daughter Taruni were held on Wednesday May 16th at their respective homes in Mumbai. Murlimohan Dasa and his brother Gagan’s service was held at their home on Thursday May 17th, while Gaura Krishna Dasa’s body was taken by his family to Hyderabad for a service also on Thursday. A memorial address and condolences meeting with Radhanath Swami at ISKCON Chowpatty is expected to be announced soon at radhagopinath.com.

Prime Minister of Nepal Baburam Bhattarai issued a statement saying he was “deeply saddened” by the accident, while the Indian embassy set up a hotline providing information for desperate relatives. “I express condolences to the bereaved families and wish for the speedy recovery of the injured,” Bhattarai said.

Meanwhile, devotees at ISKCON Chowpatty, in this difficult time, simply request their brothers and sisters around the world to “Please pray to Lord Krishna for the departed souls.”

To watch Taruni perform at Children`s Short Play about Radhanath Swami`s Childhood click here:

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