Parents headed to London, children returning after visit: The story of 27 Vadodara families hit by Air India plane crash
Kalpana Prajapati from Manjalpur area of Vadodara was travelling to London for the first time. She was headed to visit her son Vraj — a wish she had harboured for long. Her husband Rajendra, who had dropped her off at the airport on Thursday, had barely reached Nadiad when he received the news that her flight AI-171 had crashed.
Kalpana's story is similar to that of at least 27 Vadodara-based families – parents leaving for London to meet their children or the latter returning to the UK after visiting their kin – hit by the tragedy.
Neighbours say that due to Kalpana's 'close ties' with their families, many of them had come to see her off on Thursday morning. 'The entire neighbourhood is weeping… We did not expect this. She was a doting mother, who only wanted to meet her son,' a neighbour said.
Like Kalpana, Bharti Patel, another resident of Manjalpur, was going to London to meet her son.
Similarly, Nizampura residents Vinod Patel and his wife Usha had boarded the flight to go to London where their son resides. Following the crash, their son is now travelling to India to submit his DNA samples.
Among the passengers on the ill-fated flight was London-based Ketan Shah who was visiting his ailing father in Vadodara. Ketan is survived by his wife and two children, based in London.
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