Latest news with #aviationtragedy
Russia Today
07-08-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ghana ministers die in helicopter crash (PHOTOS)
A military helicopter went down in Ghana on Wednesday, killing all eight people on board, including two senior government ministers. Defense Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were among the victims. Also among the dead were Samuel Sarpong, vice-chair of the ruling National Democratic Congress; national security adviser Muniru Mohammed; and four crew members, according to the Ghana Armed Forces. Officials described the crash as one of the most serious aviation tragedies in Ghana in over ten years. According to the Ghanaian military, the helicopter departed from Accra in the morning and was en route to the gold-mining town of Obuasi in the Ashanti region when it lost contact with radar. Its remains were later discovered in the Adansi area of Ashanti. The military said it had launched an investigation into the John Dramani Mahama declared a period of national mourning and ordered flags to be flown at half-mast. Chief of Staff Julius Debrah said in a televised statement that 'the entire nation is in shock and mourning'. The Z-9 helicopter involved in the crash is a Chinese-made aircraft based on the French Dauphin design. It is commonly used by Ghana's military for transport and patrol missions. Images shared on social media appear to show burning wreckage in a wooded area at the crash site. Ghana Minister of Defense, other ministers die in helicopter crash. In May 2014, a service helicopter went down off the coast of Ghana, resulting in the deaths of at least three people. Two years earlier, in 2012, a cargo plane overshot the runway at Accra's airport and collided with a passenger bus, leaving at least 10 people dead.
CNN
30-07-2025
- General
- CNN
They lost their son in the Reagan National Airport midair collision. Now, they're fighting for aviation safety in his honor
January 29 started with such promise. Sheri Lilley visited a wedding venue in Savannah, Georgia, where her stepson Sam and his fiancee Lydia Coles were looking to get married. The date was already set: October 4, 2025. Sheri thought to herself, 'This is so fortunate. This place is perfect. It's going to work out great.' Sam was a commercial airline pilot on a trip, so Sheri asked Lydia to talk with him about the venue when he got back to their home in Charlotte. But several hours later their lives were shattered when a passenger plane collided with a Black Hawk helicopter flying over the Potomac River. Texts and calls went unanswered. No word from Sam. Sam's father, Tim, who is also a pilot, joined Sheri and Lydia on a group phone call. Everyone was in tears. They knew, even without official confirmation, something horrible had happened. 'I uttered the words to (Lydia), 'A plane has crashed in DC. We think it was Sam,'' Sheri said, still haunted by that night. Twenty-eight-year-old Sam Lilley died in January's midair collision, the deadliest plane crash in the US in 24 years. He was the first officer flying the CRJ-700 for PSA Airways, a regional carrier for American Airlines. Sixty-four people were onboard, including Sam and Captain Jonathan Campos. Three soldiers onboard the Army helicopter were also killed. That cold, devastating night would change the Lilley's lives forever. When Tim and Sheri share their story, there are no longer many tears. They've shed so many in the six months since January 29 and dealt with the trauma as parents and a couple. It's an unthinkable situation that would test any marriage. The couple agrees they were able to get through it because of their faith. 'It takes some of the sting of death away for me, because I know when I move on, I'm going to have a chance to interact with Sam and other family members that I've lost on the way,' Tim said. The night of the crash Tim and his family went straight to Washington. He was no stranger to aviation or crash investigations. A former active-duty Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot himself, he flew in combat on four tours, conducted accident investigations while on active duty, and worked for almost 16 years as an emergency medical pilot. Now, he understood more about the investigation when it was his family involved. The first time Tim walked into a conference room where victim's families were meeting with the National Transportation Safety Board, the agency responsible for investigating his son's crash, he brought an iPad loaded with helicopter routes and airplane flight paths. Tim had a lot of questions. He wanted to know what happened to his son and why. The quest for answers was a coping mechanism, but it didn't stop the traumatizing breakdowns and cries. Tim didn't sleep for the first few nights after the accident. Despite being a former Army man, he was a father yearning for his son. 'Within 12 hours of the accident, I had a very strong instinct of everything that had happened and everything that went wrong, and all those instincts turned out to be true,' Tim said. 'I was kind of the voice of the family members that understood the aviation side of this tragedy.' Tim often talked to the media, with his wife by his side, speaking for the victims' families when so many of them could not fathom what had happened. Tim and Sheri recall those initial meetings with the NTSB as 'terrible,' but a time when families bonded over shared trauma. In a conference room, there were 200 or so people, including representatives from American Airlines, PSA Airways, the Federal Aviation Administration, NTSB and first responders. Conspicuously absent during those first few days was the Army, according to the Lilley's. 'The NTSB - they are so professional,' Sheri, who spent 15 years working at Gulfstream Aerospace, said. 'They're outstanding at what they do. We have so much respect for them, but I think they probably could have briefed some of those other parties a little bit better about the fact that you are not talking to law enforcement, first responders. This is an audience of grieving and shocked family members.' People left the room in horror when officials described 'body parts spread all over the ice.' Families passed notes to the front of the conference room telling officials that night to not refer to their loved ones as 'remains.' Shocked and trying to grieve, the Lilley's still pressed for answers. The couple wanted to make sure this never happened again. Without answers, the questions would keep them awake at night. But it was a different kind of answer that woke Tim up early one morning in February. About a week after the accident, he knew Sam wanted him to get a tattoo. Tim and Sheri never were tattoo people, they say, but Sam had six. The next day, Tim, Sheri and Lydia, all went to get tattoos in Sam's honor at Raven's Tattoo Shop in Bethesda, Maryland. For Tim, it was a plane with a ribbon across it, remembering the crash. Sheri and Lydia got lily flowers. It was clear the Lilley family wasn't going to be out of the spotlight for quite some time. Tim's first national media interview was with NewsNation on January 31 with Chris Cuomo. In the video, his hands are crossed, he is fidgeting and fighting back tears, but he told his son's story. The day before, he spoke with a few local Atlanta TV stations. At that point, hundreds of media requests started pouring in and a friend of Sheri, Amy Camp, started acting as their press representative. About four days after the crash, Tim turned to Sheri and said, 'I want to go to Capitol Hill. I need to speak to some senators.' Camp was able to connect the couple with a lobbyist in Washington who ultimately opened doors for them to meet lawmakers. Just a few days after the crash, Tim and Sheri were in the offices of Senators Ted Cruz, Maria Cantwell, Roger Marshall and Tammy Duckworth, who was also an Army Black Hawk pilot and traded stories with Tim. The couple also met with Rep. Buddy Carter, from their home congressional district in Georgia, who had Sam's photograph enlarged and placed on an easel on the floor of the House of Representatives. 'A touching moment,' Sheri said. 'All three of us caught our breath.' On March 6, they spoke with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was sworn in by Judge Clarence Thomas on the afternoon of January 28, just one day before the crash. The Lilley's were happy with the Secretary's response to the crash. They appreciated his effort to address what had happened to their son and were glad the tragedy brought heightened attention to aviation safety. 'It kind of lit a fire,' Tim said. The couple knew their voices could help keep anyone else from losing their child to a tragedy like this one. 'We've got a little bit of a platform here, and this is a way that we can honor Sam,' Sheri said. 'It's also been very healing for us to feel like we may contribute to preventing disasters like this, saving other lives. That at least helped us make some sense of this whole tragedy.' The NTSB investigation into the crash will continue for about another six months but in the meantime, the couple is going to push to make aviation safer in other ways. Fighting for funding for a new air traffic control system is one of their current goals. Nine days after the crash, Sheri and Tim finally went home to Savannah. American Airlines would later provide an aircraft for their son's final trip home. It was an Airbus plane, because the CRJ regional jet Sam flew wasn't large enough to carry a casket in the cargo hold, Tim said. When the plane landed Sam was honored with a water canon salute, and dozens of pilots, including other first officers and young aviators, stood in uniform to greet him. One stood out to Tim – she told him, as he shook her hand, she wouldn't be a pilot if it weren't for Sam. He was her flight instructor and took her on her first lesson. Sam's graveside service was private, but about 500 people attended his public memorial in person, and it was livestreamed. In mid-May, Tim and Sheri went back to the site of the crash to lay a wreath in the water. The Washington DC Harbor Patrol took the couple out in a boat to the exact spot where the plane went down. What they didn't know was they'd be with the first responders who pulled their son out of the water. 'They volunteered to go with us because they felt like they already had a personal connection to us, and they kind of wanted to close that loop,' Sheri said. 'It was a very beautiful moment on the river with them.' It's been six months since Sam died. Tim and Sheri have been to Capitol Hill six times since the crash for hearings and meetings with lawmakers and have reviewed legislation. Often, they are acknowledged in the audience at the start of committee hearings. They don't plan to stop. On Tuesday, they returned to Capitol Hill to help introduce new aviation safety legislation written by Sen. Cruz and supported by the FAA, NTSB, Department of Transportation and other lawmakers. They'll also be at all three days of NTSB investigative hearings at the end of July in Washington. While they want people to remember their son, they also want accountability. Up until this point, Tim and Sheri feel like they have heard from all parties involved, but not much from the Army. 'I feel betrayed,' Tim said. 'I'll be honest with you.' In July, family members of the victims wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Army calling out the Army's refusal to engage with them. On Tuesday, after a private update from the NTSB, the families met with the Army. 'The most disappointing part from the Army's perspective is the reaction to it,' Tim said. 'They've taken the position to hide behind the NTSB and say, 'We can't really do anything or say anything until the final report.' That's just crazy.' While a probable cause of the crash has yet to be determined by the NTSB, the couple does believe the crew aboard the Army Black Hawk were at fault. 'While I do say that they made some mistakes and caused the accident, I'm not going to hold that in my heart, I have to let that go,' Tim said. The couple also reached out to the parents of crew chief Ryan O'Hara, who was in the helicopter on a training mission that fateful night. 'Our hearts really broke for them,' Sheri said, noting O'Hara was Sam's age and had a child. 'They didn't get that support like we got. Social media rallied around us.' To this day, Sheri said, six or seven of the victims of the crash haven't been publicly identified. There's a Flight 5342 Slack channel that shares birthdays and anniversaries of their loved ones. Sheri said May was a hard month full of celebrations that never happened. 'As a pilot, you bear this responsibility to get people safely where they're supposed to go,' Tim said. 'They expected them to get there and they were almost there. It's just heartbreaking.' October 4 will still be celebrated between Tim, Sheri, and Lydia. Plans haven't been finalized, but they know they'll take a trip somewhere to memorialize Sam and what would have been the day he and Lydia were married. Sam met Lydia at a church camp when they were 14 and were really close friends, but she was dating a friend of his at the time. Over the years, they reconnected. About two and a half years ago, on St. Patrick's Day, Sam 'accidentally' introduced his parents to Lydia, after engaging in holiday 'liquid celebrations,' Sheri said laughing. Very quickly, Tim and Sheri saw exactly what their son saw in Lydia. 'She has so much emotional maturity, she really brought out the best in him,' Sheri said. 'They brought out the best in each other.' Last October, just east of Dublin, Ireland, Sam got down on one knee with an emerald ring in hand and asked Lydia to be his wife. In July, Tim, Sheri and Lydia went to Ireland and she showed them where Sam proposed. That spot felt sacred to Sheri – where Sam felt one of the most joyful moments of his life. The three also sat down at a seafood tapas restaurant Sam and Lydia had gone to after she said 'yes.' When their server put their food down, Sheri noticed an airplane tattoo on the server's arm. 'My eyes just filled with tears,' Sherri said. It's those little moments that let them know whether on Capitol Hill, at home in Savanah or deep in Ireland, Sam will be with them forever.
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Did pilot DELIBERATELY crash Air India plane? Flight safety expert says new investigator revelations mean action by crew was 'absolutely' cause of disaster that killed 241
Fresh forensic evidence from the tragic Air India crash, which claimed the lives of 241 passengers, suggests crew's actions were 'absolutely' the cause of the tragedy, an aviation expert has claimed. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed mere minutes after it had taken off from Ahmedabad airport on June 12, plummeting into a residential area, called Meghani Nagar, while claiming 19 more lives of those on the ground. Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) have since released the first forensic details into the tragedy which could reveal the cause of what is said to be one of the worst tragedy's in india's aviation history. Among the new information, is the final conversation between the doomed aircraft's pilots, captured using the cockpit voice recording, suggesting the fuel had been 'cut off' in their final moments. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is thought to have lost power when the fuel cutoff switches almost simultaneously flipped, starving the engines of fuel, according to the recent preliminary report. Several questions have emerged as the fuel lever is designed to be 'highly reliable' and are constructed to stop unintentional activation, with one of India's leading aviation experts, Captain Mohan Ranganthan, suggesting it may have been deliberate. Each lever has to be pulled upwards to be unlocked, before it can be flipped and they also have further protective guard brackets to safeguard against any bumps and nudges. 'It has to be done manually, it cannot be done automatically or due to a power failure,' Captain Ranganathan told NDTV of the fuel levers. 'The fuel selectors they aren't the sliding type they are always in a slot. The plane momentarily disappeared from view behind trees and buildings before a massive fireball erupted on the horizon in this horrifying clip 'They are to pull them out or move them up or down, so the question of them moving inadvertently out of off position doesn't happen. It's a case of deliberate manual selection.' He later said 'nothing else' would explain why both switches were moved into the off position just after take off, alleging: 'It had to be deliberately done.' When questioned if he was suggesting one of the pilots 'deliberately' switched off the fuel lever, while fully aware of the possibility of a crash, he answered: 'Absolutely', before asserting they were looking at a potential 'pilot-induced crash.' It comes shortly after the final words of the pilots before the devastating crash were published by the Indian authorities, detailing how one was heard asking the other why 'did you cut off' the fuel supply, while the other responded he 'didn't'. It did not identify which remarks were made by the flight's captain Sumeet Sabharwal and which by the co-pilot, Clive Kunder, nor which pilot immediately transmitted the distress call: 'Thrust not achieved... falling... Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!' The grieving families of the Air India victims have been left confused, with some left angered by the preliminary report's findings, as they call for transparency into how the tragedy happened. Bhaval Shah, a family friend of Kinal Mistry, 23, who died in the crash, told The Times: 'If these switches can't be turned off easily and if no software glitch could have been responsible, then it is deliberate, isn't it? Then it's sabotage or suicide.' Deepti Sawhney, whose three relatives were killed in the disaster, told NTDV that she wanted all the findings to be made public. 'We must have a free, fair and transparent investigation,' she said. 'There are a lot of heavyweights involved — Air India, Boeing — who will want to save their skin. The families must get the truth.' The plane only ever reached as high as 625ft, immediately beginning to lose thrust and sink down moments after setting off to London, later exploding into a fireball after smashing into a hostel on the ground in Gujarat, killing all but one on board. Investigators' early assessments indicate no apparent fault with the Boeing or its engines, suggesting that Boeing and engine maker GE had no apparent responsibility for the accident. The report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, published late on Friday, said the jet was carrying 54,200kg of fuel, which was within the 'allowable limits'. Fuel samples retrieved from the aircraft's refuelling tanks were also deemed 'satisfactory'. The left main landing gear (LH MNLG and left wing were collided with the middle of Building C (left), 345 feet south from the point of contact. Some of the left engine broke away hitting a corner on Building D (middle). The aircraft's nose was found 307 feet southwest from Building A The flap handle lever on the plane was significantly burnt (left)ad was found in a 5-degree position, consistent with a normal take off. However the landing gear (pictured middle and right) was in a 'DOWN' position CCTV footage (pictured) from the airport shows the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) being deployed as the aircraft lifts off A view of the site where a plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in India's western state of Gujarat on June 12, 2025 'The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec,' the report said. 'The Engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off. 'In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.' But the report does not say how the switch - which is used to start or shut down the engines and are typically left on during flight - could have flipped to the cutoff position. Investigators are currently focusing on a previous Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) by the US Federal Aviation Administration in 2018, which said some Boeing 737 fuel control switches were put into the aircrafts with the locking feature disengaged. Although the problem was never deemed unsafe, an Airworthiness Directive (AD), which is legally enforceable, was issued to correct the problem with some of the levers. Boeing 787-8 aircrafts, as well as the Air India plane, use the same design switch. And due to the SAIB only being recommended, Air India did not carry out advised inspections. All pilots and crew had passed breathalyser and were deemed fit to fly, according to the report, which detailed how both Sabharwal and Kunder had enough rest before taking to the skies. Rescuers work at the site of an airplane that crashed in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, Thursday, June12, 2025 At the crash site, both fuel switches were found in the run position with the report detailing there had been indications of both engines relighting before the low-altitude crash. An ex-investigator with India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) speculated whether the switch may have tripped due to possible issues with the plane electronic control unit. Capt Kishore Chinta told the BBC: 'Can the fuel cut-off switches be triggered electronically by the plane's electronic control unit without movement by the pilot? If the fuel cut-off switches tripped electronically, then it's a cause for concern.' Referring to data recovered from the plane's two Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFR), it continues: 'As per the EAFR, the Engine 1 fuel cutoff switch transitioned from CUTOFF to RUN at about 08:08:52 UTC. The APU Inlet Door began opening at about 08:08:54 UTC, consistent with the APU Auto Start logic. 'Thereafter at 08:08:56 UTC the Engine 2 fuel cutoff switch also transitions from CUTOFF to RUN. 'When fuel control switches are moved from CUTOFF to RUN while the aircraft is inflight, each engine's full authority dual engine control (FADEC) automatically manages a relight and thrust recovery sequence of ignition and fuel introduction.' Flipping to cutoff almost immediately cuts the engines, and is most often used to turn engines off once a plane has arrived at its airport gate and in certain emergency situations, such as an engine fire. The preliminary report does not indicate there was any emergency requiring an engine cutoff. The new findings appear to tally with theories reportedly put forward on the US side of the investigation, which also noted that the switches controlling fuel flow to the aircraft's twin engines were turned off shortly after takeoff. It remains unclear why they were turned off, and investigators have been left wondering whether it was deliberate, accidental or corrected too late. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, one potential sign that the switches were off was the deployment of the plane's emergency power system, a Ram air Turbine or RAT. The RAT usually comes into action when both engines lose power or if pressure in all three hydraulic systems are critically low - both essential components of keeping a flight going. The landing gear was also found in a downward position. Shawn Pruchnicki, a former airline accident investigator and aviation expert at Ohio State University said: 'The deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) strongly supports the conclusion that both engines had failed' He believes the pilot at the helm of the aircraft had no time to think. According to investigators, crew tried to act but the crash transpired to quickly. If the preliminary findings hold, that would exonerate the Dreamliner's manufacturer Boeing and engine developer GE Aerospace. India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said: 'At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to Boeing 787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers.' The agency, an office under India's civil aviation ministry, is leading the probe into the world's deadliest aviation accident in a decade. Last month, the tragic crash claimed the lives of 169 Indian passengers on board, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian, as well as 12 crew members and left only one survivor - British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40. At least 19 people were also killed on the ground as the doomed Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner came down in a residential area moments after takeoff. Air India, the nation's oldest airline, has been trying to revitalise its operations after several years under government control. The airline company says Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who was flying the plane, had more than 10,000 hours of experience on wide-body jets, while co-pilot Clive Kunder had logged over 3,400 hours. The crash marked the first fatal incident involving a Dreamliner and was a major setback for Boeing, which is facing ongoing scrutiny over its aircraft safety standards. The US National Transportation Safety Board is assisting with the Indian-led investigation, while the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and GE Aerospace are providing technical support. It declined to comment on the release of the report. Reports indicate there have been tensions building between American and Indian officials. One of the biggest points of contention is the delay in accessing and analysing the plane's black boxes. The Americans are not pleased with the slow pace at which data is being extracted from the cockpit voice and data recorders. Pictures have been published on local media of crew members who were on board the Air India flight Air hostess Nganthoi Sharma Kongbrailatpam was named by local media as being on board the ill-fated Flight 171 Their shocked business partner Shoyeb Khan Nagori told MailOnline: 'I had dinner with them last night. They were a lovely family and Akeel and his wife were extremely successful people' (Pictured: Akeel Nanawaba) Pictured: Hannaa Vorajee, Akeel Nanawaba's wife. The successful couple ran a global recruitment agency with offices in Ahmedabad and Gloucester Read More Horrifying moment tourist plane nose dives and crashes yards from houses killing three The US team at one point even considered pulling out of the probe before eventually deciding to carry on. The US investigators have since returned home. The Dreamliner, which was first delivered to Air India in 2012, has been used for many international routes. Although officials have initially focused on the fuel control switches, they have cautioned nothing has yet been ruled out yet. Sole survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh had been in the country on a business trip with his brother Ajaykumar, 35, before they boarded the doomed flight travelling from Ahmedabad to Gatwick on Thursday. In what has been described as a miracle, Viswash - seated in 11A by the exit - survived, but his sibling who was sat on the other side of the aisle in seat 11J perished in the fireball explosion. Before the discovery of the British survivor, authorities said that they believed no one had escaped the flight alive. Eleven of those on board were children, including two newborns. The Boeing jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat at around 1.40pm (0810 GMT), officials said. Ahmedabad, the main city of India's Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people, and the busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas. Adam Taju, 72, and his wife Hasina, 70, (pictured) were flying back to the UK with their son-in-law Altafhusen Patel, 51, when they lost their lives in the tragedy Adam was described as 'a wonderful man, a community man', who was 'always out and about supporting communities'. Pictured: Altafhusen Patel, 51, who perished in the tragedy alongside his father-in-law and -mother-in-law Preliminary flight tracking data from flightradar24 reveals the plane reached an altitude of just 625ft after takeoff - a height far below standard for a commercial aircraft several minutes into departure. According to data logs, recorded at 30-second intervals, the plane remained on the ground or was taxiing slowly for over four minutes after it first registered on public trackers. The plane took off and reached 625ft, but no further gains in altitude were recorded before the crash. An Air India spokesman said: 'Air India stands in solidarity with the families and those affected by the AI171 accident. We continue to mourn the loss and are fully committed to providing support during this difficult time.' The spokesman added: 'Air India is working closely with stakeholders, including regulators. 'We continue to fully co-operate with the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and other authorities as their investigation progresses. 'Given the active nature of the investigation, we are unable to comment on specific details and refer all such enquiries to the AAIB.'
Russia Today
24-06-2025
- General
- Russia Today
‘All we have left are photos': Families of crash victims hold on to final memories
What began as a joyful Eid homecoming turned into an unimaginable tragedy for the Syed family in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai in Maharashtra's western region. Their son, Javed Ali Syed – an award-winning hotel manager based in the UK – had returned home with his wife, Mariam, and their two young children, six-year-old Amani and four-year-old Zayn, to celebrate Eid al-Adha, the annual Muslim festival that fell on June 7 this year. On June 12, the family of four boarded their flight back to London, carrying memories and promises of a future reunion. But fate had other plans. 'I still can't believe my brother and his entire family are gone,' said Syed Imtiaz Ali, Javed's younger brother, as he waited anxiously for the DNA identification process at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. 'I still look at his messages, his photos… I can't accept that he's gone,' Ali said, his voice heavy with grief. 'I keep thinking he'll call, that he'll come back. We haven't even told our mother – she's a heart patient. She wouldn't be able to bear this loss.' He added that he hasn't slept in days. It was Javed's wife, Mariam, who had booked Air India Flight 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick. But the journey ended in catastrophe – the plane crashed just moments after takeoff, leaving only one survivor. Javed, Mariam, and their two young children were among the youngest victims of what is now counted as one of India's deadliest aviation tragedies. The tragedy of June 12 unfolded in mere seconds – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, crashing into a medical college in a densely populated residential area. Thick plumes of black smoke choked the sky for hours. A journey of celebration for many left the whole of India in mourning. 'We didn't know this would be his last Eid,' Javed's father said, his voice breaking. 'All four of them were British citizens. We had no idea it would be the last time we saw them.' He spoke of Javed's long struggle to build a life in the UK. 'He worked so hard to get settled there. He had finally made it. He had promised to support everyone back home. He was happy about a promotion, and he wanted to buy a house for his mother, to take her to London. But our world has collapsed.' 'We are a lower-middle-class family. Javed was our hope. We can't come to terms with losing four members of our family. We just can't accept it.' Only one person miraculously survived the London-bound Air India flight, walking away from the wreckage with impact injuries. Many have called it nothing short of a miracle. The rest, authorities said, were burned beyond recognition, their identities still being confirmed through DNA testing. At Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital, grieving families refuse to leave until they see what remains, no matter how devastating. 'We want to see them one last time,' said Imtiaz, adding that his eyes are locked on his phone, scrolling through photos of his niece and nephew – snapshots taken just before the family boarded the doomed flight. He shared a twist of fate that spared another member of the family. 'My elder sister had planned to travel with them,' he said. 'But she couldn't get a ticket and had to take a different flight. She reached London – they didn't.' India's federal government has launched a high-level inquiry into the crash, with the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) leading the probe, supported by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and international experts from the UK, US, and the aircraft's engine manufacturers. In response to growing safety concerns, the Civil Aviation Ministry has also ordered enhanced maintenance checks across Air India's entire Boeing 787 fleet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the crash site and met with survivors in hospital, called the tragedy 'heartbreaking beyond words.' For residents living near the crash site, the sound was deafening. 'It was like a massive blast, followed by thick black smoke billowing into the sky,' said Nitin Sirkar, 45, who lives just ten minutes away from where the aircraft went down in Ahmedabad. 'We couldn't understand what had happened.' An official involved in the rescue operation told RT that fragments of the aircraft were scattered across the area, and the victims' bodies were charred beyond recognition. 'The smoke from the wreckage didn't stop for hours,' the official added. Four days on, authorities are still in the process of identifying victims through DNA testing – a painstaking task that has left grieving families in anguish. While officials say they are working around the clock, the sheer scale of destruction has made the process agonizingly slow. 'The most haunting part was receiving fragments instead of whole bodies – it broke everyone,' said a hospital worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity. According to him, medical staff have been working nonstop to expedite the DNA matching process so the remains can be handed over for the final rites. 'The families are devastated and angry. Each day feels like a year to them,' he said. 'We understand their pain, but the damage is beyond comprehension. The bodies are burned, charred, and reduced to unrecognizable pieces.' Dr Prateek Joshi was the only son of Mohan and Sunita Joshi from the northern state of Rajasthan. In his last selfie, Prakeet's family of five is sitting across from each other on the flight, wide smiles lighting up their faces, as if a long-awaited dream had finally taken flight. They didn't know it would be their last. According to his family, Dr Prateek Joshi had spent years building his life between two worlds – India, where his roots ran deep, and the UK, where a promising future awaited. The consultant radiologist had recently started working at Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital Burton. After over two years of working away from his family, he was finally bringing them over to begin a new chapter in the UK. On June 12, he boarded the Air India flight from Ahmedabad with his wife, Komi Vyas, a physiotherapist, and their three young children – daughter Miraya and twin sons, Pradyut and Nakul. 'The family had been preparing for this moment for months. Komi had resigned from her job in India to join her husband, and the children were excited to settle into a new home in Leicester, where my son had already set up a life for them,' relayed Mohan Joshi, father of Prateek, from his home in Banswara, Rajasthan. Joshi said that their world had ended in a single instant. 'I had bought new school bags for my grandkids, and during the last night in India, they kept them close to themselves and said they would use them in London. I cannot forget their faces, their voice still rings in my ears. Prateek always spoke of reuniting and a bright future ahead. Now, that future has vanished,' Mohan added, his voice shaking with grief. Prateek's mother is unable to hold on to the shock of losing her son and his whole family in the crash. 'He worked so hard for a better future, only to end like this. Now, our lives and our home are empty without them and with the thought that they will never be back,' Sunita Joshi said. The families have spent sleepless nights in the corridors of Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital – crying, waiting, hoping against hope to take their loved ones home, or what remains of them. The Air India flight had crashed into the residential quarters of BJ Medical College, setting off a firestorm that sent thick plumes of black smoke spiraling into the sky – a scene captured in haunting eyewitness videos. Among the victims was former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, whose death sent shockwaves through the state. Of the 242 people on board, the passenger list included two pilots and ten cabin crew. A total of 169 were Indian nationals, while 53 were citizens of the United Kingdom. India has faced several major air disasters. The worst was the 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, which killed 349 people. In 1985, the bombing of Air India Flight 182 off Ireland killed 329. The 1978 Mumbai crash claimed 213 lives, and the 2020 Kozhikode crash killed 21. Most recently, the 2025 Ahmedabad Air India crash left 241 dead out of 242 on board, marking one of the deadliest in India's aviation history. Raveena Christian is mourning the loss of her son, Lawrence Christian, at their home in Ahmedabad. The 30-year-old, who worked in Britain, had returned to India just two weeks earlier to perform the last rites of his father. On June 12, he was on his way back – but never made it. 'Just 17 days ago, I lost my husband,' Raveena said, her voice trembling. 'My daughter is still studying, and Lawrence was the one holding our family together. He had taken a loan for our home… he was everything to us.' She recalled frantically searching the hospital for signs of hope. 'I kept wandering from ward to ward, thinking maybe – just maybe – he had survived.''We don't know how to go on without him,' she said. 'Our lives are shattered.'
Russia Today
23-06-2025
- General
- Russia Today
‘Our world is over': Relatives of Air India victims mourn their loss
What began as a joyful Eid homecoming turned into an unimaginable tragedy for the Syed family in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai in Maharashtra's western region. Their son, Javed Ali Syed – an award-winning hotel manager based in the UK – had returned home with his wife, Mariam, and their two young children, six-year-old Amani and four-year-old Zayn, to celebrate Eid al-Adha, the annual Muslim festival that fell on June 7 this year. On June 12, the family of four boarded their flight back to London, carrying memories and promises of a future reunion. But fate had other plans. 'I still can't believe my brother and his entire family are gone,' said Syed Imtiaz Ali, Javed's younger brother, as he waited anxiously for the DNA identification process at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. 'I still look at his messages, his photos… I can't accept that he's gone,' Ali said, his voice heavy with grief. 'I keep thinking he'll call, that he'll come back. We haven't even told our mother – she's a heart patient. She wouldn't be able to bear this loss.' He added that he hasn't slept in days. It was Javed's wife, Mariam, who had booked Air India Flight 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick. But the journey ended in catastrophe – the plane crashed just moments after takeoff, leaving only one survivor. Javed, Mariam, and their two young children were among the youngest victims of what is now counted as one of India's deadliest aviation tragedies. The tragedy of June 12 unfolded in mere seconds – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, crashing into a medical college in a densely populated residential area. Thick plumes of black smoke choked the sky for hours. A journey of celebration for many left the whole of India in mourning. 'We didn't know this would be his last Eid,' Javed's father said, his voice breaking. 'All four of them were British citizens. We had no idea it would be the last time we saw them.' He spoke of Javed's long struggle to build a life in the UK. 'He worked so hard to get settled there. He had finally made it. He had promised to support everyone back home. He was happy about a promotion, and he wanted to buy a house for his mother, to take her to London. But our world has collapsed.' 'We are a lower-middle-class family. Javed was our hope. We can't come to terms with losing four members of our family. We just can't accept it.' Only one person miraculously survived the London-bound Air India flight, walking away from the wreckage with impact injuries. Many have called it nothing short of a miracle. The rest, authorities said, were burned beyond recognition, their identities still being confirmed through DNA testing. At Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital, grieving families refuse to leave until they see what remains, no matter how devastating. 'We want to see them one last time,' said Imtiaz, adding that his eyes are locked on his phone, scrolling through photos of his niece and nephew – snapshots taken just before the family boarded the doomed flight. He shared a twist of fate that spared another member of the family. 'My elder sister had planned to travel with them,' he said. 'But she couldn't get a ticket and had to take a different flight. She reached London – they didn't.' India's federal government has launched a high-level inquiry into the crash, with the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) leading the probe, supported by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and international experts from the UK, US, and the aircraft's engine manufacturers. In response to growing safety concerns, the Civil Aviation Ministry has also ordered enhanced maintenance checks across Air India's entire Boeing 787 fleet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the crash site and met with survivors in hospital, called the tragedy 'heartbreaking beyond words.' For residents living near the crash site, the sound was deafening. 'It was like a massive blast, followed by thick black smoke billowing into the sky,' said Nitin Sirkar, 45, who lives just ten minutes away from where the aircraft went down in Ahmedabad. 'We couldn't understand what had happened.' An official involved in the rescue operation told RT that fragments of the aircraft were scattered across the area, and the victims' bodies were charred beyond recognition. 'The smoke from the wreckage didn't stop for hours,' the official added. Four days on, authorities are still in the process of identifying victims through DNA testing – a painstaking task that has left grieving families in anguish. While officials say they are working around the clock, the sheer scale of destruction has made the process agonizingly slow. 'The most haunting part was receiving fragments instead of whole bodies – it broke everyone,' said a hospital worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity. According to him, medical staff have been working nonstop to expedite the DNA matching process so the remains can be handed over for the final rites. 'The families are devastated and angry. Each day feels like a year to them,' he said. 'We understand their pain, but the damage is beyond comprehension. The bodies are burned, charred, and reduced to unrecognizable pieces.' Dr Prateek Joshi was the only son of Mohan and Sunita Joshi from the northern state of Rajasthan. In his last selfie, Prakeet's family of five is sitting across from each other on the flight, wide smiles lighting up their faces, as if a long-awaited dream had finally taken flight. They didn't know it would be their last. According to his family, Dr Prateek Joshi had spent years building his life between two worlds – India, where his roots ran deep, and the UK, where a promising future awaited. The consultant radiologist had recently started working at Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital Burton. After over two years of working away from his family, he was finally bringing them over to begin a new chapter in the UK. On June 12, he boarded the Air India flight from Ahmedabad with his wife, Komi Vyas, a physiotherapist, and their three young children – daughter Miraya and twin sons, Pradyut and Nakul. 'The family had been preparing for this moment for months. Komi had resigned from her job in India to join her husband, and the children were excited to settle into a new home in Leicester, where my son had already set up a life for them,' relayed Mohan Joshi, father of Prateek, from his home in Banswara, Rajasthan. Joshi said that their world had ended in a single instant. 'I had bought new school bags for my grandkids, and during the last night in India, they kept them close to themselves and said they would use them in London. I cannot forget their faces, their voice still rings in my ears. Prateek always spoke of reuniting and a bright future ahead. Now, that future has vanished,' Mohan added, his voice shaking with grief. Prateek's mother is unable to hold on to the shock of losing her son and his whole family in the crash. 'He worked so hard for a better future, only to end like this. Now, our lives and our home are empty without them and with the thought that they will never be back,' Sunita Joshi said. The families have spent sleepless nights in the corridors of Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital – crying, waiting, hoping against hope to take their loved ones home, or what remains of them. The Air India flight had crashed into the residential quarters of BJ Medical College, setting off a firestorm that sent thick plumes of black smoke spiraling into the sky – a scene captured in haunting eyewitness videos. Among the victims was former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, whose death sent shockwaves through the state. Of the 242 people on board, the passenger list included two pilots and ten cabin crew. A total of 169 were Indian nationals, while 53 were citizens of the United Kingdom. India has faced several major air disasters. The worst was the 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, which killed 349 people. In 1985, the bombing of Air India Flight 182 off Ireland killed 329. The 1978 Mumbai crash claimed 213 lives, and the 2020 Kozhikode crash killed 21. Most recently, the 2025 Ahmedabad Air India crash left 241 dead out of 242 on board, marking one of the deadliest in India's aviation history. Raveena Christian is mourning the loss of her son, Lawrence Christian, at their home in Ahmedabad. The 30-year-old, who worked in Britain, had returned to India just two weeks earlier to perform the last rites of his father. On June 12, he was on his way back – but never made it. 'Just 17 days ago, I lost my husband,' Raveena said, her voice trembling. 'My daughter is still studying, and Lawrence was the one holding our family together. He had taken a loan for our home… he was everything to us.' She recalled frantically searching the hospital for signs of hope. 'I kept wandering from ward to ward, thinking maybe – just maybe – he had survived.''We don't know how to go on without him,' she said. 'Our lives are shattered.'
