‘She joined Air India as an airhostess when she was just 19': Grief strikes family of Manipuri woman killed in plane crash
In Manipur's Thoubal town, the family of 21-year-old Nganthoi Sharma Kongbrailatpam plunged into mourning as reports of the Air India plane crash came in. She was part of the cabin crew on duty on the flight.
She had called her elder sister around 11:30 am to tell her that she would be flying to London that day. 'She said she would not be able to call for the next few days and that she would get in touch after she returned on June 15. That ended up being her last call to us,' her father, Nandesh Kumar Sharma, said.
Around three hours later, his elder daughter called out to him in a panic after seeing news reports on her phone that the flight had crashed.
'We knew that she was supposed to be inside that plane. But we have not received any information from Air India or any representative. All we know is from the news and Facebook,' he said.
The middle of three daughters, Nganthoi joined Air India, her first job, in 2023, when she was a teenager.
'She had just given her first semester exam in DM College in Imphal. Some of her friends had been taking training to become air hostesses. When they went for the interview, they called her along. She went and ended up getting selected. She was very young, but I was happy that she had got a job in a good company. I thought that when she was older, she could try and find some stable work in Manipur,' he said.
Her job would keep her on the move constantly, and she lived in Mumbai with a group of other young women from Manipur who work in Air India.
Her father said that the last time she visited home was in March this year. She had visited them as a surprise around the time that he was undergoing medical treatment in a hospital.
'She stayed for just a few days. She always visited us like that. She would surprise us when she got a few days off work. She would plan the visit with her elder sister and call out to us when she reached the front gate. She looked after us all very well,' he said.
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