Air India crash: Man boards doomed flight days after wife's last rites
By : Sandhya
Air India crash: London-based Arjun Patolia boarded the Air India flight that tragically crashed on Thursday, days after performing the last rites of his wife in Gujarat. He was heading to meet his two young daughters, according to a report by the Daily Mail.
Patolia visited the Amreli district of Gujarat to fulfil his wife, Bharatiben's, last wish, who passed away a week earlier. Bharatiben's final wish was to immerse her ashes in her village. Patiolia travelled to Gujarat to perform the last rites along with his extended family.
A few days after the final rites, Patiola boarded Air India flight AI-171, expecting to return to his daughters, aged four and eight. Unfortunately, the flight crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday, 12 June 2025.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, carrying 242 people, crashed in Ahmedabad’s Meghani Nagar area near Sardar Vallabhai Patel International Airport at around 1:40 pm.
In a post on the social media platform X, Air India wrote, “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.”
The airline further informed, “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.