Ahmedabad: Twenty-four hours after one of aviation’s worst disasters, Ravi Thakor was a picture of agony and pain as he went about trying to trace his mother and toddler daughter, who were at the BJ Medical College hostel mess into which Air India’s Ahmedabad-London flight crashed minutes after take off, killing all but one on board.
At least 265 people were killed on Thursday when a London-bound Air India plane carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. While 241 persons who died were passengers, other fatalities were on the ground.
“My mother, wife and I work at the BJ Medical College mess. Junior doctors come here to have their lunch, while food for senior doctors is packed and taken to the civil hospital as part of a tiffin service. At 1am on Thursday, we packed food and went to the hospital, while my mother and my daughter were in the mess,” a distraught Thakor told reporters.
Since he, his father and wife are out as part of the tiffin service, the toddler is left with the grandmother while she prepares food at the mess, Thakor said on Friday.
“At the time of the crash, my mother Sarla and daughter Aadya were in the mess. It has been 24 hours but I have not got any clue about what has happened to them. I have gone through the lists provided by authorities and have searched for them in civil and private hospitals all through the night,” he said.