Saturday’s unfortunate Piha Beach tragedy has left the entire Kiwi Indian community devastated in grief.
Saurin Nayankumar Patel (28) and Anshul Pareshbhai Shah (32), who hailed from Ahmedabad in the Indian State of Gujarat, were swept away by waves.
Patel, was an electrical engineer who arrived in New Zealand in June last year, while Shah worked as a cashier at a BP gas station and arrived in NZ in November. Both men were work visa holders.
One of the closest friends of Patel and Shah, Apurva Modi, was quoted as telling the media that there were neither coastguards at the scene nor any warning signposts.
Indian Weekender got in touch with Narendra Bhana, President of the New Zealand Indian Central Association (NZICA), to know what is being planned by the community to help the families of the victims.
"It is devastating news for our Indian-Gujarati community in NZ, and we are with the family in this time of extreme grief. I have been in touch with the family and even the High Commission to see how we can help them,” Bhana said.
"We are waiting for directions from the family, which is understandably in trauma, to know how we can assist them. We are there to help them with all our support. If the family seeks any financial help, we will look into starting a Givealittle page. At this point, we can assure the friends and family of the victims that, as a community, we are there for them."
Dhansukh Lal, President of Auckland Indian Association also shared the same sentiment and told Indian Weekender, “We want to assure the families and loved ones of the victims that we are there for them as a community and will try our best to help them in whatever capacity we can.”
Jeet Suchdev, chairperson of Bhartiya Samaj Charitable Trust is also working alongside Hon Consul of India in Auckland, Bhav Dhillon to support the families. “I have been getting a lot of calls after this unfortunate incident and am working closely with Mr. Dhillon to do all that we can to help the families overcome this tragedy,” said Suchdev.
The Gujarati community is trying to support the families of the deceased.
Kiritkumar Keshavlal Thaker, the President of Gujarati Samaj NZ Inc. (GSNZ), which has been working for the Gujarati community since 2012, said, "This tragedy beyond words saddens us. We offer our full support to the families and are also trying to determine if this incident was due to a lack of health and safety standards at Piha. If that is the case, we will not take it lightly.
"As the Gujarati community, we also plan to have a mass prayer for the departed and are working on the details."