15-06-2025
Mortal remains of AI crash victims arrive via green corridor
Grief gripped the districts of Anand, Kheda and Vadodara city on Sunday as the mortal remains of the nine Air India crash victims reached their homes, packed in full-size coffins and wrapped in a white cloth. At each of the nine funerals– five of which were held in Vadodara and four in Anand, hundreds of grieving relatives, friends and neighbours surrounded the coffins to offer floral tributes, lamenting about being unable to see the face of their departed loved ones 'one last time'.
Three of the five funerals were held in Vadodara's Manjalpur neighbourhood on Sunday. Family, friends and neighbours bid a tearful goodbye to Kalpana Prajapati, Vadodara resident killed in the Air India crash. She had taken her first flight to meet her son in London and was seen off by her close neighbours in the residential complex.
On Sunday, as the coffin carrying her mortal remains arrived in Manjalpur, her son Vraj, who arrived from London to perform the last rites, stayed close to his mother's coffin. Family and close friends broke down inconsolably.
Floral tributes were offered to the coffin on which the family placed a photograph of the departed victim to perform the rituals of 'solah shringar' as per Hindu traditions before being carried to the Manjalpur crematorium.
Mortal remains of Narendra Panchal and his wife Usha were also brought to their Manjalpur residence from where family and friends accompanied the funeral procession in big numbers to the crematorium.
Similar to Prajapathi, Anju Sharma was aboard the ill-fated flight to meet her son in London. A resident of Samta area, Sharma, who loved creating inspirational videos on Instagram, is being remembered as someone 'full of life', by her neighbors and friends. While her family and friends bid a tearful farewell, one of her neighbors recalls how one of Sharma's latest Instagram reel was about life's uncertainty with a background sound 'Aadmi Khilona Hai'.
Elcina Makwana, a resident of Navayard's body, also arrived on Sunday evening and was laid to rest in the presence of several mourning relatives, neighbours and friends. BJP and Congress leaders attended the funerals of the crash victims in Vadodara.
Similar scenes played out in Anand district too, where the bodies of Mahendra Waghela from Ramnagar, Mukund Ambalal Patel from Piploi in Khambhat and Aakash Kumar Purohit from Khambholaj were brought to their respective villages for the final rites. Officials of the Anand district administration including Collector Praveen Chaudhary and BJP MP Mitesh Patel and other district leaders remained present to offer condolences to the grieving families. The body of one crash victim from Kheda was brought to Anand district, as per the wishes of the family to conduct last rites.
All the bodies were brought to their respective homes through a green corridor created on the Ahmedabad Vadodara National Expressway-1, with the district police of Ahmedabad, Kheda, Anand and Vadodara, piloting the ambulances along the stretch as per the communication received from nodal officers.
Kheda Superintendent of Police Rajesh Ghadiya told Indian Express, 'The Kheda district administration has assigned one gazetted officer each to the families of the deceased from the district, who are accompanying the relatives through the journey… A green corridor has been created and the control rooms relay messages to the next jurisdiction beginning with Ahmedabad city for the next jurisdiction's pilot vehicles to take over.'
Vadodara City Commissioner of Police Narasimha Komar said that the city police had deployed police staff within the city, anticipating the outpour of visitors. Sunday marked the first day in which the first of the 27 victims' mortal remains arrived in the city.
Komar said, 'As per the communication relayed from the nodal officers, the police pilot van takes over the piloting at the beginning of the city police jurisdiction… Along with the district administration, the city police is extending its assistance to the families in every way possible during this time of tragedy.'
