Renjitha Gopakumaran was killed in the Air India plane crash yesterday. She was on her way home to the UK and her job at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth
An ‘angel’ NHS nurse working at a British hospital was today named as one of the passengers killed in the Air India tragedy. Renjitha Gopakumaran was returning to the UK after a holiday to see family in her home country when the ill-fated Boeing 787-8 crashed.
The nurse and mother was working at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, Hants, and is thought to have been living in the UK for around a year. Her colleagues at the NHS hospital today said she was a ‘beautiful lady’ who showed her patients and co-workers ‘so much love and care’.
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Ms Gopakumaran, said to be in her 40s, ‘had the biggest heart and brightest smile’, one colleague said. Others said it was ‘tragic’ to hear of her passing.
Ms Gopakumaran has two children in India and she had been in the UK completing her degree as part of a five-year sabbatical, reports in India said.
Ms Gopakumaran, from Kerala in India, was said to have been returning home to visit her mother and children and to also oversee building work on her home.
She had previously worked as a nurse in Oman. She travelled by train to catch the flight that crashed in Ahmedabad seconds after taking off, killing all but one of the 242 passengers and crew on-board.
Ms Gopakumaran was travelling back to the UK to complete her nursing studies at Queen Alexandra (QA) Hospital. Tributes today poured in for the nurse.
Colleague Hannah Kelleher, a healthcare support worker at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, said online: “Such a beautiful lady, one of the best nurses.
“She showed her patients and work colleagues so much love and care. She had the biggest heart and brightest smile, May you RIP angel.”
One colleague said online: “One of our QA nurses sadly passed away in the plane crash today. Thoughts are with her family, friends and work family.”
Simon Thorley-Archer wrote: “I remember her as a patient she was such a lovely lady.”