New Delhi, June 13 As the nation reels from the devastating crash of Air India Flight AI-171, grief is pouring in from households across India, where families are mourning loved ones lost in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.
Among the 241 people killed in the air crash, the pain is especially raw in Kurukshetra, Vadodara, and Kheda district of Gujarat.
Anju Sharma, originally from Kurukshetra, had been living in Vadodara with her family. She was on her way to London to visit her elder daughter when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport on June 12 and rammed into a doctor's hostel nearby.
Her uncle, Balkishan Sharma, deeply shaken, said, “I rarely watch TV. She was my brother’s eldest daughter. I found out about the tragedy from the news.”
In Uttarsanda village in Kheda district, the family of Rupal Patel is facing a similar heartbreak. Rupal, a London resident for 15 years and mother of three, had returned to India for medical treatment. Her visit had gone well, and she was set to return home with better health.
Her brother, Pawan Patel, who dropped her at the airport just hours before the crash, said, “My sister came for a week for treatment. After her operation, she was feeling well. She was happy to return to her husband and three children in London. I dropped her at the airport, and by the time I got home, I heard the devastating news.”
Rupal was seated in 19J on the ill-fated flight. Her husband, after being informed, immediately left London with their children, a 13-year-old and two 7-year-old twins, to travel to Gujarat.
“The kids were waiting for their mother to return. They had no idea she would never come back,” said a grieving relative.
In Ahmedabad, DNA sampling is underway at BJ Medical College to identify the victims, many of whom were burned beyond recognition.
Families waited overnight in anguish, clinging to the faintest hope.
An eyewitness, Jairam, who lives about two kilometers from the crash site, described the horrifying moment: “Smoke suddenly rose high in the sky. There was fire. The flight had crashed, there were many people on board.”
Seventeen of the deceased were from Kheda district alone, showing the widespread personal impact of the tragedy across Gujarat and beyond.
The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, operating as Flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed just minutes after takeoff and fell onto a building nearby. Of the 242 people on board the aircraft, only one passenger survived and many other people on the ground are also feared dead.
The government has promised full support to the victims’ families and a thorough investigation into the crash.
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