King’s College London to plant tree in memory of student who died in Strand van crash

King’s College London has announced it will be planting a tree in memory of the student who died in the van crash on The Strand last week.

The tree will be planted outside of St Mary Le Strand church, at Strand campus, as a tribute to Aalia Mahomed.

Aalia was killed last week in a incident at the university, where she was hit by an alleged drug driver. She was 20 years old.

Students have been paying tribute to her since, with dozens of flowers accompanied by tea lights and Post-It notes with special messages on, in her memory.

Professor Shitij Kapur, vice-chancellor at KCL, announced to students via an email on Friday 21st March that a cherry blossom tree will be planted “as a permanent memorial to Aalia and will flower at this time each year.”

Aalia Mahomed via Met Police

It was also announced in the email that a vigil will occur tomorrow on Tuesday 25th March in the Strand Quad at 10:45.  Professor Shitij Kapur said: “This will be a quiet and peaceful time for us to come together and remember Aalia.”

The choice of a cherry blossom tree is significant, this is because, according to Professor Kapur: “Aalia and her family travelled to Japan last year and Aalia particularly liked the cherry blossoms which are spectacular at this time of the year in Japan, and she had hoped to return next year to see them again.”

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He then said: “I was grateful to be able to share with her mother the love that Aalia’s friends and classmates feel for her and the loss that we are all feeling. At times like this, it’s important that we find ways to share our grief and find strength together.”

Addressing the other two victims of the incident, Professor Shitij Kapur said: “Our thoughts are with our student who remains in hospital, we are in touch with and supporting their family. Our other student has been discharged from hospital, and we continue to support them and their family as they focus on their recovery at home.”

And finally, ending the email, Professor Shitij Kapur reaffirmed the support services that are available to students at King’s.

Support services

• Support is available through Faculty Wellbeing Advisors.
• More information on the support services available to our students is available on Student Services Online.
• Out of hours and weekend support services are available through TogetherAll.

Featured image by Kamilyte Afanasyeva