Families Mourn Victims Of Air India Flight AI171 Tragedy

 

Just yesterday, Sangeeta Gauswami tearfully embraced her 19-year-old son, Sanket, at Ahmedabad airport, watching with pride as he set off to begin university life in London. Less than 24 hours later, she sits motionless in grief, still wearing the same clothes from their final goodbye—her world shattered by a tragedy no parent should ever endure.

Sanket was one of the 242 people aboard Air India flight AI171, which crashed seconds after takeoff, claiming the lives of nearly all on board. The devastating crash has left only one survivor, turning hundreds of dreams into heartbreak for families across India and beyond.

The Boeing Dreamliner slammed into a medical college hostel shortly after takeoff, killing passengers, crew, and people on the ground. The current death toll stands at at least 290, marking one of the deadliest aviation disasters in India’s recent history.

Recovery teams from India’s National Disaster Response Force have located a flight recorder from the wreckage—an essential step in uncovering what caused the catastrophe. While investigators focus on the crash’s cause, families wait in anguish for answers.

Gauswami, like many others, clung to the hope that her son might somehow have survived. But by Thursday night, reality descended. She had to submit a DNA sample at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital to help identify her only child among the victims.

“We have had no news,” she whispered through tears, her sister beside her, both overwhelmed by grief. More than 190 relatives have provided DNA samples in what officials say could be a 72-hour verification process.

At the hospital, sorrow hangs in the air. An elderly woman wails in one corner, her cries rising above the soft sobs of other grieving families. Only a day ago, the same corridors had echoed with frantic footsteps as loved ones rushed in with desperate hope.

Among the lost was 27-year-old Manisha Thapa, a flight attendant from Patna. Her family boarded the earliest flight they could find upon hearing the news, already fearing the worst.

“I spoke to her just a day ago,” her mother said, clinging to a tissue offered by Manisha’s friend. “She told me she’d be flying long hours and wouldn’t be able to call.”

Manisha’s father broke down after submitting his DNA sample on Friday morning, his grief too deep for words.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site in Ahmedabad and met with the sole survivor, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose escape is being described as miraculous.

Ramesh recounted his harrowing survival in an interview: “At first, I thought I was going to die… Then I realized I was alive and saw an opening near my seat. I unbuckled myself, pushed through using my leg, and crawled out. Everyone around me was either dead or dying. I still don’t understand how I’m alive.”

Images of Ramesh helping others while bleeding and later resting in a hospital bed with minor injuries have flooded social media, bringing a flicker of light in a moment of overwhelming darkness.

While the immediate priority remains identifying victims and supporting their families, attention will soon turn to the cause of the crash. The US National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to assist Indian investigators, and the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch has also offered its support.

For now, India grieves — a nation mourning the lives lost in a moment that has left families forever changed.