Dad-of-two killed in Air India crash after scattering wife's ashes in final wish
A father of two young children who had travelled to India to scatter his late wife's ashes was tragically killed in Thursday's horror plane crash as he returned home.
Arjun Patolia had been visiting the city of Amreli, in northern India, and was due to fly back to London on June 12. However, it was later confirmed he was one of the passengers on board the Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick.
His wife Bharatiben had sadly died in London a week earlier, but one of her final requests was for her husband to take her remains back to India. He visited the Narmada River, a sacred place in the Hindu faith, with many people having their ashes scattered in rivers to purify the soul and ensure spiritual liberation.
He then took part in funeral rites with family members in his village, which is around 150 miles from Ahmedabad, the Mirror reports.
The couple had two daughters, aged eight and four, who live in London, according to local Indian media. Arjun's mother still lives in the city of Surat.
The plane plunged to the ground just minutes after take-off at around 1.38pm local time on Thursday. It struck a residential area, with horrifying footage capturing the moment it fireballed.
A "mayday" distress call had been issued by the crew, indicating an emergency on board. However, no further communication was received, with flight tracking service Flightradar24 reporting it lost signal from the aircraft seconds after it left the ground.
Footage from eyewitnesses captured the moment the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner descended with its nose pointing upwards before disappearing out of sight. Seconds later, a loud explosion could be heard, followed by a huge fireball and thick smoke billowing into the sky.
A British man is believed to be the sole survivor of the terrifying crash. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh claimed he was in seat 11A on the plane, and said he heard a loud noise around 30 seconds after take-off.
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The 40-year-old told the Hindustan Times: "When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital."
His family said they had "no idea" how Vishwash had survived, but added his older brother Ajay was also on the flight.
His younger brother Nayan Kumer Ramesh, 27, said: "We were just shocked as soon as we heard it. I last spoke to him yesterday morning. We're devastated, just devastated. He said I have no idea how I exited the plane."
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