Ahmedabad plane crash: When an island loses its people

Indian Express

21-06-2025

A fleck of land in the Gulf of Khambhat off Gujarat's coast, Diu stretches about 4.6 km from north to south. That is only slightly longer than the runway at the Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport in Ahmedabad, from where the ill-fated Boeing 787 took off and crashed under a minute on June 12.
The two factoids are meshed in the miraculous story of Vishwas Kumar, the only survivor of India's worst air disaster in three decades, out of the 242 on board. Vishwas, 32, is a British citizen but spends almost as much time in the Union Territory of Diu, running a fishing business here – like many others who live such dual, intertwined lives in this former Portuguese colony.
Among those who died in the Ahmedabad-Gatwick flight crash were 14 with roots in Diu – four of them British (including Vishwas's brother Ajay, 30) and seven Portuguese. On this tiny island of about 51,000 people, that means many have lost someone they knew – the white caps and dark saris, a mark of mourning, now dot Diu.
Having lost one son and seen another survive, Ramesh Kumar Bhalaiya, 52, is swinging between grief and relief. 'My sons were the four parts of my body,' he tells a visitor at their spacious, two-storey home in Patelwadi village. Bhalaiya flew down from Leicester, with wife Jayaben and their sons Nayan, 26, and Sunny, 29, after the crash – stopping first at Ahmedabad to identify and collect Ajay's body.
Bhalaiya talks about his shock when Vishwas called to tell them of the crash. It was seconds after he informed them that they were taking off. 'Vishwas was breathing heavily and told me that Ajay was nowhere to be seen, that there was smoke everywhere. The phone then got disconnected,' Bhalaiya told The Indian Express earlier. Ajay's wife collapsed on hearing the news and had to be hospitalised; the couple lost two young daughters to an illness earlier.
On Wednesday the family performed Ajay's last rites. Vishwas is too 'shaken' to talk to anybody, says a relative. The canopy in the house's courtyard where the mourners collected has not been taken down yet. The plastic chairs underneath are vacant, while the sheet spread on the ground for the mourners was blown away by the strong winds that swept Diu Thursday.
On a tree, hangs a fishing net.
It was the fishing season that had brought Vishwas and Ajay to Diu. The family flew down in September last year at the start of the season, and when the rest left in January, the brothers stayed back. It was an annual trip, with the Leicester-based family's primary source of income still the fish brought in by the boats it owns and operates here. Back in Leicester, the Bhalaiya sons work at a garment store.
The story is the same across homes in Diu, where fishing remains the few viable sources of income besides the liquor business. The liquor draws tourists from dry Gujarat, leading to the mushrooming of bars and resorts, with fewer numbers coming for Diu's beaches, a fort, its Portuguese-style buildings, and a 17th-century church.
Chhaganbhai Bhikhubhai Bhalaiya (65), of Bucharwada village close to Patelwadi, holds a Portuguese passport but lives mostly in Diu with wife Ratnaben. His sons Mahesh, 42, and Rohit, 40, are British citizens, who work at a garment factory in London.
Chhaganbhai used to be in fishing too, before he got a job as a contractual driver with the Forest Department. He is now retired. Just back from attending the funeral of a relative who died in the Ahmedabad crash, Chhaganbhai says he borrowed money to send his sons, who had studied only till Class 10, in Gujarati medium, to England 15 years ago. They held Portuguese passports, allowing them to stay and work in the UK at the time, as it was part of the European Union then. Over time, they acquired British citizenship.
'First, they faced problems conversing in English, but they managed and are now proficient. They got married here, to locals, and their wives later joined them. They are happy there, and I am happy here. The two of them send 100 pounds (about Rs 11,700) each every month, and it is sufficient for my wife and me.'
He has no regrets, Chhaganbhai says. 'We lived in a mud house earlier, but now have a concrete home, with all the facilities… If my sons had stayed here, we would be leading the same life… they would be fishing, putting their lives at risk, or doing some labour work.'
The sons and their families visit every December, during the winter vacations, while Chhaganbhai and his wife have been to London at least 10 times in the last five years. 'My sons urge us to stay there,' he says, 'but the weather does not suit us.'
The risks involved in fishing, both due to the fickle weather as well as the chances of ending up in Pakistani waters, are another reason families here don't want their children getting into it.
An official of the Diu UT administration says that migration has been on the rise, particularly from fishermen communities such as the Kolis and Kharwas, with London the preferred destination. While the main reason is money, the official puts his finger on another factor. 'These communities are used to taking risks, adapting to circumstances and surviving.'
The Portuguese link helps. 'After Daman, Diu and Goa were liberated in 1961 from its rule, the Portuguese government offered residents of its former colonies citizenship, if they could prove they lived there at the time. Even successors could get citizenship if they could prove ties to forefathers listed in the Portuguese civil registry. Now, they submit applications to a mamlatdar, and these are forwarded for verification to Portuguese Embassy officials, who visit Diu once every three months.'
The official estimates that over 30,000 people from Diu are staying in London currently, many of them with British citizenship. 'While youths settle there, older people come back,' the official says, adding that similar migration patterns can be seen in Daman. In 2020, Diu was merged with the Union Territory of Daman, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and it is now one consolidated UT.
Amarjit Singh, a retired IAS officer, talks about the other routes for migration from Gujarat, with the first of them headed for Africa, particularly Mozambique. 'After Mozambique's independence in 1975, the Vanzas and Darjis and the other Gujarati communities, including from Diu, started to migrate again, this time towards Portugal… The Quinta da Holandesa and Quinta da Vitoria neighbourhoods in the heart of Lisbon came to hold big Gujarati settlements.'
Later, Singh says, especially due to the failure of a resettlement process, many chose to migrate to Britain.
K C Sethi, the author of the coffee table book Daman, Diu, Goa, Dadra, Nagar-Haveli & Portuguese Regime (1510-1961), says many homes in Diu carry hints of the old world in their 'stained glass windows, sacred relics, and black-and-white photographs of weddings with mandolin players'.
Patelwadi village sarpanch Deepak Devji says that in their village of about 4,000, at least 40 families have members settled in London. There is not much by way of prospects here, says Devji. In Patelwadi, most students go to private schools or the sole Gujarati-medium government school for primary classes, before moving to the village's Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya that has English-medium instruction for Classes 6 to 12.
A government college, offering Arts and Commerce streams, came up in 2013 in Diu. Besides, there is a government polytechnic and an Industrial Training Institute.
Says Devji: 'Starting from an early age, children are urged by their parents to learn English so that they can settle in London. Earlier, those who went got jobs at construction sites, factories, shops… But the younger generation is more educated.'
Haji Abdul Karim Bidiwala was 14 when Diu was liberated from Portugal. He recalls that till Class 3, he studied in the Portuguese medium. He remembers other things: 'Guzra hua zamana yaad bahut aata hai (We fondly remember the days gone by). The life of the people of Diu was very good… A governor looked after the administration, law and order. We got free medicines, milk, rations, some of it brought by air from Portugal.'
The grandson of one of the Portuguese Governors of Diu, Joao Folque, has been visiting Diu every year since 2012, and spends at least three months here. Settled in Lisbon, the 64-year-old says over the phone: 'Diu is our first home, our ancestors' roots are entrenched here. My grandfather died in 1951 in Goa. My father was born in Silvassa in Dadra and Nagar Haveli.'
Umesh Patel is the MP of the UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. The first Independent to win the Daman and Diu Lok Sabha seat in nearly 40 years, Patel credits his victory to the 'neglect' of the constituency by the BJP and the 'indifference' of the Congress. 'People were fed up with the working style of the Administrator, who had carried out mass demolitions, laid off government servants like teachers and nurses, and privatised power. Businesses suffered due to his farmaan (orders).'
On the rising number of young people leaving Daman and Diu, Patel says he is not surprised. 'Jobs are scarce here, people have to endure hardships… So they avail Portuguese citizenship, start earning good money and see a rise in their living standards,' he says.
When that money is sent home, he adds, that affluence draws in others.