‘Hugged her, asked her to take care: Heartbroken brother recalls last interaction with sister killed in Air India crash
A heartbroken brother of a 45-year-old woman killed in the Ahmedabad crash recalled his last interaction with his sister before she boarded the doomed Air India flight, reported ANI. Rupal Patel, who died in the horror incident, was visiting her maternal home from London in Uttarsanda village in Nadiad of Kheda district for medical treatment.
"My sister had come to Nadiad for treatment. She had a flight today and had to return to London. I had gone to drop her off. However, I got the news that the flight had crashed as soon as I returned home. My sister has been living in London for 15 years and is staying there with her husband and three children," Pawan Patel, brother of Rupal Patel, told ANI.
Pawan recalled helping Rupal with her luggage, hugging her and asking her to care for herself. "She was suffering from a medical condition. I helped her with her luggage and gave her a hug at the end. I asked her to take care of herself," Pawan added.
The passenger flight crashed minutes after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday. It crashed into a resident doctors' hostel building.
'The aircraft crashed shortly after take-off. We regret to inform that, of the 242 aboard, there are 241 confirmed fatalities. The sole survivor is being treated in a hospital,' Air India wrote in an update on X.
Among the 242 people on the flight, 12 were crew members - 10 cabin crew staffers and two pilots. The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals and 1 Canadian national. The sole survivor of the plane crash is an Indian-origin British national.
"Following the tragic incident in Ahmedabad, a formal investigation has been initiated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), in line with international protocols set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)," Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu posted on X.
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