AI 171 crash: Tiffin delivery man saves 80 medicos but loses daughter, mother in crash in Ahmedabad
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Ahmedabad: Every day for the past 15 years, Ravi Thakor and his family — residents of Meghaninagar — served food to doctors on the Civil Hospital campus at Asarwa. On June 12, their tiffin service unknowingly saved 80 doctors, who were spared from becoming victims of the Air India plane crash, because they stayed back to have their tiffin instead of going to the mess.
But in an unbearable twist of fate, Ravi lost his two-year-old daughter and his 52-year-old mother in the same tragedy.
Ravi's family cooks and caters food at the hostel mess on BJ Medical College campus. On that fateful day, Ravi and his wife Lalita, both in their 30s, along with Ravi's father Prahlad Thakor and a relative, left at 1pm to begin delivering tiffin carriers to doctors working in the wards.
Their little daughter Aadhya wanted to come along, but Ravi, concerned about the summer heat, left her in the care of his mother Sarla Thakor, who was cooking food at the mess.
"She would have cried to come with us. So, we quietly stepped out when she was calm," Ravi said, holding back tears. "It was routine work: fill the containers, deliver the food, wash the utensils, and prepare for the next day. But we knew that we would not be able to carry Aadhya around as we made heavy deliveries in the heat."
They went about their routine. But around 1.40pm, the rhythm broke. Ravi heard a deafening blast. Flames and black smoke rose.
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Air India Flight 171 had crash into the mess building where he had left his mother and daughter. "We rushed to the spot, but police and others stopped us. Some doctors hinted at what might have happened. They asked us to give DNA samples," Ravi said.
The family clung to hope. For two days, Ravi and Lalita visited the site, praying Sarla and Aadhya were missing, not gone. But on Thursday morning, DNA reports confirmed the unthinkable. They both had perished in the crash.
"We cremated them on Thursday. Our life revolved around serving food, and now we are left with this silence," Ravi said quietly.
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