Thimphu, Jan 27: Two British sisters had no
knowledge about their father`s death in a plane crash in
Bhutan. And a letter discovered from a scrap box not only made
them aware of the fact but also led the siblings to visit the
place of the mishap that took place 58 years ago.
They came to the Himalayan nation last week to pay
homage to their father, who left the world when Tara
Bearcroft, the younger, was not yet born and Linda was a
two-year-old toddler.
"It`s been a voyage of discovery and completion," said
Tara. "It has filled up a little hole that`s been in my
heart."
Thanking the villagers of Kitokha, Linda said,
"Without them we would have not completed our journey."
"They not only helped and encouraged but took us into
their hearts and showed us determination.”
Jefferey Ronald Bearcroft and 3 others were killed
in November 1950 when their Dakota Cargo crashed into the
mountains of Kitokha.
His wife Delia Theodora Olivia got the news a week
later. Twelve days later Tara was born. Delia then remarried
and the girls grew up in the care of their stepfather not
knowing how their real father died.
It was in August 2006, when the two sisters while
cleaning the house after their mother passed away, came across
a box containing some papers.
The box contained a letter from the Governor that
carried a story, which changed Tara and Linda`s life.
"We knew very little about our father`s death from the
circumstances because our mother rarely talked about him,"
said Tara.
In the quest for finding the truth about their
father`s demise and pay their last rites, they decided to go
to Bhutan.
Recalling the incident, 84-year-old Colonel (Retd)
Kunzang Thinley said, "the plane nearly touched the roof of a
house when it was coming down in fire."
Thinley, then 25, was asked to go to the crash site
with a doctor.
"We reached the site next day and saw body parts
hanging from trees, rubber boots of all sizes, clothes, silk,
and other items. We counted two people but nobody was alive,"
he added.
Linda and Tara reached the site after seven hours of
trekking through thick forests and paid homage to their
father.
Bureau Report
