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ABC News
12-07-2025
- General
- ABC News
Air India crash preliminary report brings little comfort for victims' families
One month after Air India Flight 171 crashed into a hostel at Ahmedabad's BJ Medical College, killing 260 people, including children and entire families, key questions remain unanswered. The disaster left behind scorched buildings and devastated lives. On Saturday, India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau released its preliminary report, confirming that both fuel control switches were moved to "cut off" just seconds after take-off, shutting down the engines and causing the Boeing 787 to lose thrust. But the report does not explain how or why the switches were moved, offering little clarity or comfort to the families left behind. In a narrow alley in Ahmedabad, 32-year-old Ravi Thakor sits on a wooden cot inside his modest home, scrolling through old videos of his daughter playing. Today would have been her second birthday. Instead of celebrating, Mr Thakor is mourning his daughter Aadhya and his mother Sarla Ben, who were both killed when the plane crashed into the BJ Medical College hostel mess where she worked. "I learnt from social media that both engines shut down and there was something wrong with the fuel," he told the ABC. The preliminary report said both fuel switches were cut off just seconds after take-off, then switched back on, but the engines never recovered enough power before the plane slammed into the ground. Cockpit audio captured one pilot asking the other why the fuel had been cut off, and the other replying that he hadn't done it. Mr Thakor says the findings are confusing and only deepen his questions. "There will be many like us who are not that educated and don't understand what has been written [in the report]," he said. Mr Thakor says the trauma of that night still haunts him. "A whole iron cupboard melted in the area my mum used to cook in. Imagine what would happen to a person," he said. "We have seen the charred bodies with our eyes. We have felt it. I can still smell the stench; it's in my nose. How would it have been for them?" Not far from Mr Thakor's home, another family is grappling with the same grief. BS Saiyad lost his brother Inayat, as well as Inayat's wife and daughter, in the crash. He, too, has read the preliminary findings, and finds them contradictory. "It seems like the pilot is being blamed. But the way the report is set out, it also looks like the pilot is innocent," Mr Saiyad said. "If this investigation is to be done transparently, there can't be any prejudice." Aviation experts say the design of the fuel cut-off switches makes an accidental error unlikely. Guard brackets prevent the switches from being knocked or moved into the off position by mistake, and a stop-lock mechanism requires pilots to lift the switch before changing its position. The report outlined the sequence of events: the fuel switches moved to cut-off almost simultaneously, power was lost, the switches were reset, but by then the aircraft was too low to recover. As for a possible mechanical fault, the AAIB says there is no evidence at this stage to recommend changes for Boeing or GE, the engine manufacturer. The 56-year-old commanding pilot, Sumeet Sabharwal, and his 32-year-old co-pilot, Clive Kunder, had a combined 9,000 hours of flight time on the 787. Both were rested and breath-tested before take-off. Air India says it's cooperating fully with the investigation. The Indian civil aviation minister has urged the public to be patient. "Let's not jump to any conclusions at this stage," Ram Mohan Naidu said. "Let us wait for the final report." As investigators continue analysing flight data, wreckage, post-mortem reports and witness statements, the final report could take months. For families like the Thakors and the Saiyads, however, the preliminary findings offer little solace. "Sometimes I dream about calling Inayat and stopping him from leaving." On what should have been a day of celebration, Mr Thakor spent his daughter's second birthday looking at her photos and videos, still asking why she had to die. "We thought this year we'd take her to the temple … let her grandparents bless her," he said quietly. "But now, she's gone."
Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Indian Express
Tea stall owner who lost son, mess worker whose mother and daughter perished: How time has stood still for kin of A-I crash's ground victims
Outside the main gate of the Atulyam hostels' campus, Sita Patni ran a tea stall until a month ago. This is the same gate from where viral videos have shown Viswash Kumar Ramesh, the lone survivor of the Air India plane crash, walking out, with a mobile phone in hand. Sita's 13-year old son Aakash burned to death in the impact of the fire that followed the crash on the boys' hostel mess of B J Medical College on June 12. She suffered burns trying to save the boy, and was in hospital till Thursday, when the family decided to go to their ancestral village in Patan for the funeral rites. Aakash's father Suresh Patni told The Indian Express that his family had gone to stay at their ancestral village for a while, performing the religious services. Meanwhile, the site where their kitli (stall) was once located, is now occupied by the police picket tent, some bedding and an industrial cooler set up as a shield against the blazing heat of the Gujarati summer. Aakash's mother Sita was severely burned on the right side of her body when she attempted to save her younger son. Speaking on his wife's condition, Suresh Patni said, '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.' Ravi Thakore, who lost his mother Sarla and daughter Aadhya, cannot think of working at the medical college again. On Friday, July 12, Aadhya would have turned two. On the afternoon of June 12, Ravi and his wife Lalita had set out to deliver tiffins to doctors. They had left Aadhya with Sarla, a cook at the mess, when the crash happened. The bodies of Sarla and Aadhya were considered missing before they were identified by DNA profiling and handed over for final rites on June 19. For the Thakore family, whose entire livelihood revolved around the medical college, with Sarla cooking for the students and Ravi, his wife, father, sister and brother-in-law delivering tiffins to doctors at the hospital, going back to work on the same premises is no longer an option. 'It reminds us too much of what we have lost. We cannot set foot in that place again,' said Thakore, who also drives an auto rickshaw.
Hans India
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hans India
EXCLUSIVE: Aadhya Anand Defends Co-Star Babil Khan, Says "People Are Quick to Judge Vulnerability"
In an era where mental health awareness is finally gaining mainstream traction, actor Aadhya Anand believes we still have a long way to go when it comes to truly accepting emotional openness; especially on social media. In an exclusive conversation with The Hans India, Aadhya opened up about her Friday Night Plan co-star Babil Khan, known not just for his on-screen talent but also for his candid emotional posts that often reveal his vulnerabilities. When asked whether society is still quick to judge those who express their feelings publicly, even while claiming to support mental health, Aadhya offered a heartfelt response. 'I feel people are very quick to judge,' she said. 'In fact, when it comes to Babil, I've seen a couple of comments saying he's over-acting or doing too much. But people don't know who he really is because when he was with me, and this is even before the paparazzi sightings, he was exactly like that. Overgiving, warm, sweet and that kind of quality is so rare. You don't find that in every one.' Aadhya went on to highlight how social media often fails to capture a person's real essence, and instead, turns emotional transparency into a target for criticism. 'People started giving him backlash that he really didn't deserve. No one really knows what's going on inside someone, or who they really are from inside. It becomes very easy to become the victim of scrutinization,' she added. Her words offer a much-needed reminder about empathy in the digital age, particularly for public figures who choose to share their inner world in an effort to normalize honest conversations around mental health. For the unversed, Babil Khan, son of the late actor Irrfan Khan, had recently faced media scrutiny following a viral video where he appeared to call out Bollywood celebrities. The video, which was later deleted and followed by the deactivation of his Instagram account. He later returned to social media and clarified that his video was misinterpreted and slammed netizens for spreading the false narrative. He further expressed that he was having a bad day.
Mint
20-06-2025
- Mint
Air India plane crash: Six days after tragedy, 'missing' woman and two-year-old granddaughter confirmed dead
Days after the tragic Air India AI-717 plane crash the suspense surrounding a 52-year-old 'missing' woman and her granddaughter ended after a DNA test confirmed they were among the deceased, PTI quoted her family as saying. According to the report, Sarlaben Thakor has been employed as a cook at the mess at a medical hostel complex in Ahmedabad for the past 15 years. Sarlaben and two-year-old granddaughter Aadhya were handed over to their family members on Thursday at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital after a DNA test confirmed their death in the June 12 tragedy. "After the DNA test, the bodies of my mother Sarlaben and daughter Aadhya were handed over to us on Thursday. With a heavy heart, we cremated them the same day," PTI quoted Ravi Thakor, son of the woman, as saying. Ravi Thakor along with his family, including his deceased mother, and wife Lalita, for the past 15 years used to cook food for MBBS students at the hostel mess of BJ Medical College situated in Meghaninagar, where the tragedy struck in the afternoon more than a week ago. Just before the AI-717 plane crash, Ravi and Lalita Thakor left the mess for Civil Hospital to deliver food tiffins for senior resident doctors, while Aadhya and Sarlaben remained at the mess, where MBBS students living in the hostel gather for meal. "We left the mess at around 1 pm to deliver tiffins at the hospital. At around 1:40 pm, a plane suddenly smashed into the mess as well as the adjoining hostel building, and the entire area was engulfed in fire. When we reached the spot, my mother and daughter were missing while all other women working in the mess managed to come out," said Ravi Thakor. Following the AI-717 crash, Ravi Thakor and his wife frantically searched for Sarlaben and Aadhya at every possible location, including all wards of Civil Hospital and even the post-mortem room, but failed to locate them. Ravi's wife Lalita said they used to take along their son and daughter to the mess every day and leave them in custody of Sarladevi while going out to deliver tiffins at Civil Hospital. "My son was also in that building when the plane crashed. Luckily, he took cover inside the laundry shop of the hostel and then came out safely. After failing to locate my daughter and mother-in-law, we registered a missing persons' complaint and gave our DNA samples for matching with bodies," she said. Doctors matched the DNA samples with the mortal remains of Sarlaben and Aadhya a week after the crash and handed them over to the grieving kin on Thursday after establishing their identity. On 12 June, at 1.39 pm, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, with 242 persons on board crashed into the medical hostel complex in Meghaninagar moments after taking off for London from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. In the accident, more than 270 persons, including passengers and crew members (241) and those on the ground (29), were killed, while subsequent fire, which engulfed the aircraft as well as hostel buildings killed more people.
Time of India
19-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
AI 171 crash: Tiffin delivery man saves 80 medicos but loses daughter, mother in crash in Ahmedabad
1 2 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. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Install the Perfect Pool at Home – Start Here Backyard Pool | Search Ads Learn More Undo 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.
