For crash survivor, a difficult journey: Carrying his brother's coffin
As the funeral procession wound through the narrow mud paths of the coastal village of Patelwadi in Diu, Viswashkumar Ramesh Bhalaiya broke down multiple times.
He and his brother Nayan were shouldering the coffin of their sibling, Ajaykumar Ramesh Bhalaiya, who had died in the Air India crash on June 12.
Viswash, who was on seat 11A of the London-bound flight, limped out of the wreck as a wall of fire and smoke billowed behind him. Ajay, his younger brother, was on seat 11J.
The body was cremated on the outskirts of the village, with a large number of people in attendance.
In the early hours of Wednesday, at 2.10 am, morgue officials in Ahmedabad had handed Ajay's body to his family after DNA matching. Just hours earlier, at 7.30 pm on Tuesday, Viswash had been discharged from the Ahmedabad Civil hospital.
Ajay, like Viswash, was a British national based in Leicester. Their family members — father Rameshbhai and his wife, and brothers Nayankumar and Sunnykumar — had arrived in Ahmedabad from the UK a couple of days back to claim Ajay's body and take Viswash home.
Medical Superintendent Dr Rakesh Joshi said: 'Viswash is absolutely fine, his family has been here since the day before yesterday. They took him away.'
He said the hospital had offered the family help in taking them to their home in the Union Territory of Diu, and the airline had offered hotel rooms. The family members, however, made their own arrangements.
Nayan, it is learnt, rode in the ambulance with Ajay's coffin. Viswash remained in touch with him throughout the road trip from Ahmedabad to Diu.
On Wednesday morning, along with the mandated police escort, they arrived in Diu's Patelwadi village.
A large number of people, including relatives, villagers and people from neighbouring villages, were waiting as an inconsolable Viswash entered the family house, its bright pink verandah pillars seemingly paling in the gloom.
A garlanded photograph of Ajay was kept on a table with a burning lamp and flowers. A canopy had been erected for mourners in the courtyard.
Patelwadi village sarpanch Deepak Devji said, 'Rameshbhai, his wife and his sons Nayankumar and Sunnykumar had come down from London along with Ajaykumar's wife. The most affected person was Viswashkumar. We tried to control and console him. Ajay had two daughters, and they both died around three years ago in London due to illness. They were four and five years old.'
Ajay's wife, it is learnt, was admitted to a hospital on Tuesday after her condition deteriorated because of the grief and shock. She was discharged on Wednesday and was brought back home before the body of her husband arrived.
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