Community Post

Black Friday turns deadly for Bay Area family

November 28, 2012

FREMONT: Black Friday is traditionally known as the day when consumerism wins over everyone. People scramble to get the deals and line up in front of stores to grab the cheap goodies that stores sell to attract crowds. Traditionally this is the day when stores get back into profit and hence the name ‘Black Friday’. People stand in line for hours and sometime days to land deals.
However, this Black Friday November 23 came with sad and bad omen for Bay Area’s Tandel family. Arvind Tandel and his family went for shopping for Black Friday to Gilroy shopping center as the eldest daughter of the family was planning to get married next month. Little did they know that this was the last family trip they had together with all the four daughters and their mom and dad.
After shopping they were heading back to their home in San Bruno and about 10 minutes away from their home they got into an accident after which things will no longer be the same for this Indian family.
They were traveling in SUV and hit a CHP car on right hand shoulder. As a result the SUV rolled over multiple times and two of the daughters were thrown out on the road. The eldest daughter Nisha Tandel (24) and Sheetal Tandel (20) died as a result of the accident. Mother Yogita Tandel, father Arvind Tandel, daughter Payal Tandel (20) and another daughter 12 year were critically injured.
Friends and family members gathered at their place. Contacted on phone, the family shared they were saddened and shocked by this incident and still waiting for more information.
Tandels were very active in community and Tandel sisters performed dance at the local Diwali function just last week. Little did anyone know that their lives will come to such an abrupt end.
While cause of the accident is still not known, one of the contributing factors could be lack of sleep due to shopping all night. The fact that some passengers were not wearing seatbelts worsened the impact of accident. It goes to confirm the fragile and uncertain nature of life.