Uncle's heartache over the loss of niece and her friend felt across the Hindu community in Perth's south east
- Families in Kenya and those who are part of the Shree Swaminarayan Temple in Perth are mourning the loss of two young women.
- Friends Nidhi Hirani and Ruxmi Vaghjihani who grew up in Kenya died after the car they were in left the road and became submerged.
The deaths of two young women in a car that plunged into a small lake in suburban Perth on the weekend has hit those in the Hindu community in and around Perth's Swan Valley especially hard.
Friends Nidhi Hirani and Ruxmi Vaghjihani, who grew up in Kenya and who both had Indian backgrounds, died after the car they were in left the road and became submerged on Sunday morning.
The friends had only arrived to live and study in Australia at the start of the year, but had already become part of the community.
They were both were studying nursing at Perth's Edith Cowan University.
Police are still piecing together evidence which along with the Coroner’s report is expected to provide a clearer picture of what happened but Ms Vaghjihani's uncle, Kalpesh Halai, told SBS News he received a phone call from the women after their car entered the water.
Ms Hirani and Ms Vaghjihani had lived with Mr Halai and his wife since arriving in Australia.
Nidhi Hirani (pictured) and her friend Ruxmi Vaghjihani are being remembered fondly by those in Perth's eastern suburbs. Source: Supplied / Facebook
The women had been on their way to a deli owned by Mr Halai, where Ms Hirani worked.
"I was trying to figure out where exactly they were, so I could quickly rush to the scene," he said.
Mr Halai lives just a couple of minutes' drive from the lake.
He said when he arrived he "saw the car drowning."
"I could hear them banging the window to break it but they couldn’t and within a few minutes the car was full of water," Mr Halai said.
Attempts by bystanders to rescue Ms Hirani and Ms Vaghjihani were unsuccessful.
Mr Halai said he and the community around him were still coming to terms with the sudden loss of the two women.
One of the floral tributes left by the lake in Aveley where the two women died. Source: SBS News / Aleisha Orr
Mr Halai said in the short time Ms Hirani had been working at the deli, she had quickly become a valued member of the team.
"She was very friendly and charming, she made new friends with customers and I got comments about her always smiling," he said.
"In the short time, she really warmed the customers' hearts."
The 20-year-olds visited the Shree Swaminarayan Templein the nearby suburb of Bennett Springs at least weekly since arriving in Perth.
Women attending the temple this week spoke of two "lovely young girls", who they had just started to get to know.
Shree Swaminarayan Temple in the Perth suburb of Bennett Springs.
"Always together whether they went to any social gathering, to any temples anywhere, any visits, in fact even that's what they decided even for work," Mr Bhudia said.
This was the case on the morning they died. Ms Vaghjihani had been accompanying her friend who was going to work a shift at Mr Halai's deli.
Mr Bhudia said the loss of the two women had hit the community "very hard."
"We've got a very large community in fact, not only our community, the community at large," he said.
"Everyone, they all got together and had the prayers and had the lighting of the candle at the scene. So it's a huge, overwhelming support we got from the entire community, not only Indian community, Australian communities as well."
Br Bhudia said the temple would likely host further prayers for the women once their bodies were released by the coroner, before they are repatriated to Kenya where family members will carry out Hindu funeral rights before cremation takes place.
