AHMEDABAD: Exactly a year after the ill-fated Air India flight AI171 crashed moments after take-off in Ahmedabad, killing 260 people, families of the victims gathered in the city on Friday to remember those they lost: daughters, fathers, husbands, siblings, and parents. Photographs were clutched tightly, tears flowed freely, but beneath the remembrance lingered the same unanswered question: what really happened? Most families have received compensation. Closure, they say, never arrived.
For many families, the anniversary reopened wounds that had never healed. Parents sat holding framed photographs of children they would never see again, while siblings and spouses recalled the final conversations before the doomed flight took off. Amid prayers and quiet embraces, grief mingled with anger over what they described as a continuing lack of answers.
“Yes, we have been paid the compensation, both interim and ex-gratia. However, we’re still awaiting answers as to why the ill-fated flight crashed. Money will never bring back our beloved daughter, Payal. We were called here by the law firm. We thought perhaps we’d get some answers and closure on why our daughter died on that flight. We deserve to know what happened,” said Suresh Khatij, a resident of Himmatnagar. Khatij said the loss had shattered his family beyond repair. Around him, several other families nodded silently, sharing the same lingering sense of disbelief and helplessness.
Similar was the plight of Prakash Chaudhary, a farmer from Dhanera town in Banaskantha village. “I came here for justice, for answers. My sister Dhapuben and her husband Kamlesh died in the ill-fated flight. My sister got married some six months before the incident. Her husband worked at an electronics store in London. She was finally moving with him and boarded AI-171. This was the first time ever she or anyone from our family boarded a flight. We’re scarred for life.”
Grief, unanswered questions, and calls for accountability marked the gathering of victims’ families, activists, and legal representatives on Friday as they came together to remember those lost in last year’s Air India Boeing crash.
For Vihar Parikh, the journey from London to Ahmedabad to mark the first anniversary of the AI171 crash became another ordeal tied to the tragedy his family continues to live with. Parikh, whose grandfather Chaitanya Parikh died in the crash, said, “Even a year later, we are still struggling to recover belongings and documents linked to the tragedy. Passports, bags, personal papers, and a mobile phone recovered after the crash have still not been handed over despite repeated communication with the airline.”
“We tracked the phone through Google activity, which showed it was active on March 15. Since we live in London, we emailed Air India asking them to courier the recovered items to us, but there has been no response for months. While compensation may have come, we continue to battle unanswered questions, administrative hurdles, and emotional exhaustion long after the tragedy,” Parikh added.
Across the venue, families shared strikingly similar experiences: unresolved claims, missing belongings, lack of communication, and a continuing search for closure.
Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) president Captain CS Randhawa, who has already approached the Supreme Court seeking a judicial probe into the crash, reiterated that the pilots’ body would pursue legal recourse if any inconsistencies emerge in the final investigation report. Addressing the families, Randhawa also appealed for a collective demand to secure land for a memorial dedicated to the victims of the tragedy.
