Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Tamil Canadian community worker dies after stopping to help at highway crash

Tributes have poured from across the Tamil Canadian community for 52-year-old Surendran Thambirajah, who passed away earlier this month after he stopped to help another driver who had crashed their car in     Ontario.

Thambirajah had stopped at the scene of a crash to offer his assistance, after another vehicle has crashed into a hydro pole. He passed away after being struck by a downed wire.

He was a popular and well known community activist after he moved to Canada in 1986, fleeing the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. Once in Canada, he was a founding member of a Tamil school in Ottawa and created the Tamil student association at Carleton University. 

“He was a tireless community worker who dedicated his entire life to the betterment of Canadians and the Tamil community around the globe,” said a Go Fund Me page set up by the Ottawa Tamil Community.

“He truly embodies the Canadian spirit,” said his friend and former classmate, Anto Gnanapragasam. “After coming to Canada you realize at how fortunate we are and we also want to bring that fortune to everyone else.”

His five children, Nivetha, Eelini, Eelana, Samarventhan and Eelan all paid tribute to their father, with his edlest daughter

“He was my best friend, he was the first person I talked to about any problems I had,” says eldest daughter, Nivetha saying, “He was always taking the initiative of making sure everyone got a proper education, knew that they had value”.

See the Go Fund Me Page here.

Also see more from CTV News below.

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.