Families Of Air India Crash Ground Victims Continue To Mourn Loved Ones: 'Reminds Too Much...'

Last Updated:July 12, 2025, 11:57 IST

As the Air India flight crashed into a college mess last month, a tea stall owner named Sita lost her 13-year-old son, while a mess worker lost his mother and infant daughter.

On June 12, the London Gatwick-bound Boeing 787-8 aircraft crashed soon after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport, killing at least 241 people on board, and several others on the ground. (PTI)

Ahmedabad Plane Crash: It has been a month since the devastating plane crash of Air India Flight AI-171, which claimed the lives of 260 people in June, but time has not moved forward for a tea stall owner who lost his son, or a mess worker whose mother and daughter were killed on the ground after the crash.

The harrowing plane crash is in the news once again after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on Saturday released a preliminary report on the incident. The Air India flight, which departed for London’s Gatwick airport from Ahmedabad on June 12, crashed moments after takeoff, into a college mess.

The AAIB report revealed that the crash, one of India’s deadliest aviation disasters in recent history, suffered an engine shutdown after fuel supply to both engines was interrupted. All efforts to keep the plane airborne failed, although no sabotage or contamination was reported.

Victims Continue To Mourn Loved Ones

As the plane crashed into the hostel mess, leaving 241 out of 242 passengers and college staff dead, tea stall owner Sita’s 13-year-old son, Aakash, burned to death due to the fire that followed the crash. Sita suffered burns while trying to save her son, and remained in the hospital till Thursday.

Aakash’s father Suresh Patni told The Indian Express that his family had gone to stay at their ancestral village to perform funeral rites for their deceased son, while a police tent, some bedding and an industrial cooler now occupy the area where their stall was located.

“My wife has severe burns, and she has not yet healed, but she had to come with us to Patan for the prayers of our son. So, we had her discharged from the civil hospital. We will admit her elsewhere once we return to Ahmedabad," he added.

Meanwhile, Ravi Thakore, a worker in the BJ College mess where the plane crashed, lost his mother, Sarla and his daughter, Aadhya, who would have turned two on Friday (June 12). He and his wife Lalita had left Aadhya with Sarla, a cook at the mess, while they left to deliver tiffins, when the deadly crash took place.

The bodies of Aadhya and Sarla were identified through DNA testing and released on June 19. Ravi, whose mother, wife, father, sister, and brother-in-law were all employed at the hospital, has vowed never to set foot in BJ College and Hospital again. “It reminds us too much of what we have lost. We cannot set foot in that place again," he said.

Aveek Banerjee

Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international...Read More

Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international...

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