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30 years of Lockerbie bombing: Tributes paid to Indian victim in UK
Besides Rajesh Tarsis Priskel Ramses, a Gujarati Christian, the other Indian-origin victims of the December 21, 1988 bombing were Surinder Mohan Bhatia, Shanty Dixit, Anmol Rattan, Garima Rattan, Suruchi Rattan, and Mridula Shastri.
The Gujarati Christian community in the east Midlands city of Leicester paid tributes to Rajesh Tarsis Priskel Ramses, who was among 270 passengers who died when the New York-bound Pan Am flight 103 blew up in the sky over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988.
Memorials were held across the world on the 30th anniversary of the bombing over the town in southwest Scotland. Ramses was among seven Indian-origin passengers on the flight. The late Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2003 owned responsibility for the tragedy.
Ramses, a 35-year-old computer operator based in Leicester, was planning to start a new life in America. Candles were lit and flowers placed during a brief memorial services close to where he lived on London Road, reports from Leicester said.
Marcus Solanki, a friend of Rajesh, described him as a “popular and well-known” member of the city’s Gujarati Christian community: “I knew Rajesh well. He was a dear friend and a much-loved member of our community. He had moved to England from India in the late 1970s”.
He told ‘Leicester Mercury’, a leading local daily: “He lived in London Road and later moved to Hinckley Road. In those days, the community used to meet at the old St Barnabas Church Hall, off Uppingham Road”.
“Although we were, and still are, quite a small community, a few hundred families strong, everyone was always very close and supportive of each other. Rajesh was one of our brothers,” Solanki said, adding that Ramses worked for the British Shoe Corporation.
“I remember the horror at learning that had been killed when the plane was blown up…We don’t want him to be forgotten and, on the 30 anniversary of the bombing, Rajesh, and all the others who lost their lives that night, are at the very forefront of our thoughts”.
Besides Ramses, the other Indian-origin victims of the bombing were Surinder Mohan Bhatia, Shanty Dixit, Anmol Rattan, Garima Rattan, Suruchi Rattan, and Mridula Shastri.
A service was held in the Dryfesdale Cemetery in Lockerbie, where the Lord Lieutenant for Dumfriesshire, Fiona Armstrong, read out a message from Queen Elizabeth and paid tribute to the “remarkable community” in the town.
“Please convey my warm thanks to the people of Dumfriesshire for their kind message, sent on the occasion of their Remembrance service to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing, which is being held today,” the Queen said.
“I send my prayers and good wishes to all those who will be marking this solemn anniversary.”
