Body found in burned taxi cab near Sea-Tac airport

Dozens of Sikhs gathered in a SeaTac neighborhood today, mourning the death of a local taxi driver.

The victim, also Sikh, was found dead in his cab about 3:30 a.m. after firefighters responded to a call about a car fire. After dousing the flames, they made the grim discovery near South 177th Street and 38th Avenue South.

King County Sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart offered few clues as to what happened but said the death is being investigated as a homicide.

Fellow cab drivers said the 43-year-old victim had been dispatched to pick up a passenger in the area just before he was killed.

The driver has not been officially identified, but friends and a relative say he was a four-year resident of SeaTac, originally from India. For the past three years, he worked the night shift for Farwest Taxi.

He was married in January to a woman in India, and he had hoped to bring her to the United States soon, according to a man who identified himself as the victim's nephew. The nephew said he planned to call her tonight.

Friends say the victim had gained permanent resident status and described him as a nice, polite and helpful man.

Lakhvir Singh, secretary at the Singh Sabha Temple of Washington, said the victim volunteered at the Renton temple, cooking and distributing food.

Another friend recalled the victim's generous spirit. One night, when the victim had finished a shift when he was working at gas station, he dashed over to another station to fill in for a friend who desperately needed some time off.

In 2004, after another taxi driver was killed, the city of Seattle required that digital cameras be installed in every cab. The cameras snap photos of anyone who's picked up, which are recorded in a sort of black box hidden in the vehicle. . A back-seat sign in each cab informs riders about the camera.

That could be why the perpetrator set the taxi on fire, taxi driver Vikram Bains speculated. "Maybe he thought he'd destroy the black box," he said.

Although drivers are well aware of the dangers inherent in the business, many say it's rare that they're victimized. In 14 years of driving the day shift, Bains said someone ran off without paying only a few times.

But, he said, "the risk factor is multiplied when you drive at nighttime."