Indian-origin entrepreneur in UAE pledges ₹6 crore to families of medical students killed in Air India crash

Hindustan Times

5 hours ago

An Indian-origin entrepreneur in UAE has expressed his sorrow over the death of the students who were killed after an Air India flight crashed into a medical college hostel mess moments after taking off from an airport in Ahmedabad. In his post, he pledged to pay ₹6 crore to the families of the students who died in this tragedy.
'They were future frontline heroes. Manav, Aaryan, Rakesh, and Jaiprakash were preparing to save lives, not lose their own. The AI171 crash took them from us. Pledging ₹6 crore to support their families and others affected,' Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, whose X bio says he is an entrepreneur in UAE, shared the post.
'Having lived in medical hostels, the images felt painfully familiar. This gesture is personal. It stands with the students who never got to serve, and with the families now carrying their memories forward,' he added in an update.
According to the Hindu, Dr Shamsheer Vayalil is the son-in-law of MA Yusuff Ali, the owner of the retail conglomerate LuLu Group International.
The four students were among several people who died when the London-bound flight crashed into BJ Medical College building. Among the 242 passengers aboard the plane, only one person survived.
'The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals and 1 Canadian national. The survivor is a British national of Indian origin,' Air India wrote in a statement on X. The plane also had ten cabin crew members and two pilots.