Mother killed in Air India plane crash ‘didn't want to go' on trip
Abdhiben Patel, 40, known as Abdhi, died when flight AI171 smashed into a building shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Thursday.
She had flown to India two weeks prior to care for her elderly mother, but was uneasy about leaving her eight-year-old son for the first time.
"She didn't want to go," said Atif Karim, 45, a close friend and colleague at Zone Beauty Studio in Northampton.
"She told me, 'I just don't like being away from him'. It was her first time leaving him, and she was very nervous."
Mr Karim added that Ms Patel's trip was motivated by a "sense of duty" to her unwell mother. However, "you could tell it was weighing on her", he said.
Mr Karim, a father of two, said recent tensions between India and Pakistan, which led to flight cancellations and uncertainty, had added to Ms Patel's worries.
'All the flights were getting cancelled,' he said. 'It didn't feel like the right time.'
Because her husband Pankaj worked night shifts, Ms Patel was inseparable from their son Meer, he said.
'She kept saying how shy and reserved he is, how attached they were,' he added.
'She was totally devoted to him – her entire world revolved around him.'
Ms Patel had planned to return to work on Saturday.
The day before the crash, she had messaged Mr Karim to check in about a task and offer to help finish it remotely.
'She said, 'Do you want me to finish that?' and later, 'Don't worry, I'll sort it,'' he said. 'That was the last I heard.'
Originally from Gujarat, Ms Patel moved to the UK in 2012 and joined the salon in 2016.
She worked her way up through the ranks over the years and had been managing the business for the last three.
'She was the most diligent, reliable worker I've ever had,' Mr Karim said.
'But more than that, she was our friend.
'She was bubbly, kind, always smiling – she had a way of putting people at ease and always took a genuine interest in their lives.'
'She got on with everyone and left a real mark on the people she worked with and the customers she served.
'Yesterday, we had people coming in and crying their eyes out.'
Inside the salon, he said the mood has changed: 'There's no music playing anymore.'
The staff are devastated and bursting into tears, he said.
'Everyone's just heartbroken.'
Ms Patel's husband and son are now in India, where efforts are still ongoing to identify victims.
Authorities have begun handing over remains after identifying some through DNA testing.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner had crashed into a residential area shortly after take-off, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground.
Only one passenger – a 40-year-old British man – survived.
A fundraiser has since been launched to support Mrs Patel's grieving husband and son, raising more than £4,000 in its first few days.
The campaign is hoping to reach £50,000.
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