‘Beloved' airline's flight cuts short ex-AI loader's life

Time of India

5 hours ago

Ahmedabad: After Rajendra Patankar's long and dedicated service to
Air India
(AI), it was Flight 171 from his beloved airline that wrote his final chapter. The 63-year-old former Air India cargo loader was merely 20 minutes away from completing his morning shift as a Gujarat Industrial Security Force (GISF) jawan at Atulyam-4, when destiny dealt its cruel hand.
Caught in the searing impact of the AI plane crash, he ran out of the building, partially burned. The miracle that got Rajendra out alive ended Wednesday evening when he succumbed to his injuries at Civil Hospital.
Rushed to the hospital with 33% burns across his face, forearms, and hands, Patankar remained conscious through most of the six days, even walking and speaking with his family. His son Vishal, 37, who works with AI's security unit, was mobilised to help with rescue operations, and only learnt of his father's condition later.
"My father said he recognised the sound of aircraft engines just before the blast. Look at the irony of fate.
He loved Air India. It gave him a life. None of us had imagined it would also take it away," said Vishal.
Vishal, his younger brother Ankit, 35, and their mother Meena, 61, found Rajendra alert at the hospital. "He talked, joked, recognised his colleagues, and even some of the doctors whom he knew from his three years at BJ Medical College and Atulyam."
by Taboola
by Taboola
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Undo
By the fourth day, Rajendra grew anxious. "With so many doctors visiting him, he began thinking something was wrong," Vishal said. The anxiety spiked during a dressing replacement for his deep tissue burns, which amplified the pain. The next day, he lost consciousness and was placed on ventilator as his heart struggled to maintain the required oxygen level in his blood. His body gave up the fight the following evening.
Doctors attempted CPR six times, but failed to resuscitate him.
On Thursday, GISF personnel gathered in large numbers. Rajendra was given a salute of honour at the BJMC campus, said senior GISF inspector Girish M Thakur. His body was escorted in a police-protected convoy that passed through Meghaninagar, before reaching the crematorium in the Ashok Mill area.
A man who worked most of his life around aeroplanes, was laid to rest in the shadow of one.