Air India plane crash: A road trip dream hits deadend, reunion plan stamped out

Indian Express

14 hours ago

'This is the last time you will be travelling alone'. These were the parting words of Alpa Soni to her husband Nishit Soni, who was exuberant as he embarked on his 'lifelong dream' of a road trip.
The trip was meant to span 22,000 km from Ahmedabad to London, and touch 22 countries. 'From now on, I will accompany you on every trip, be it leisure or business,' 55-year-old Alpa had told Nishit while giving him a sendoff on April 1.
For Nishit, as the roads gave way to new landscapes, diverse terrains, multifarious cultures and myriad people, his life came crashing down. On June 12, a day before his road trip was to culminate, flight AI 171 crashed within moments of taking off from Ahmedabad airport. Only one of the 242 passengers and crew on board survived. On the doomed flight were his wife, his younger brother Swapnil, 45 and Swapnil's wife Yoga, 44.
If the flight had climbed out into the azure and cruised above the clouds and landed in London's Gatwick, Nitish, after fulfilling his dream trip on June 13, would have received a grand welcome from Alpa. He was her 'childhood sweetheart', Dipti, 60, the eldest of the four siblings, told The Indian Express.
On Sunday, family and relatives had gathered at the house of the close knit business family of 14 in Ahmedabad's Bopal area. 'When she called me from the airport she told me that she was very excited to meet after all these days and also asked if I was equally excited or not,' Nishit said.
The heartbreaking CCTV footage of the drawing room from Thursday shows two young boys of the family aged 8 and 9 jumping, clinging and hugging their mother and grandmother, refusing to get down as they were about to leave for the airport.
'Since the couple (Alpa and Nishit) had not met for the last two and half months — the longest they had been away from each other — the three planned to celebrate Nishit's achievement in London. From there, Nishit and Alpa were supposed to go to South America while Swapnil and Yoga were to return to Ahmedabad on June 22,' Trupti Soni, Nishit's sister told The Indian Express.
Nishit recalls Alpa telling him on the phone how her friends had organised several get-togethers before she departed for London. 'She told me it felt weird but nice at the same time how her friends were treating her as if she was going abroad for the first time,' he says, beating back tears.
After the devastating news of the crash, Nishit returned from Amsterdam. Only Swapnil's body has been handed over to the family and the final rites were performed Sunday.
'On March 11, Alpa had celebrated her 55th birthday in a grand manner. She never demanded anything but this time she wanted a big bash, and we organised a Sufi night. Yoga did the Everest base camp trek last month with her friends and planned to travel to France and Italy after returning from London,' Trupti said.