Daijiworld Media Network – Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad, Jun 13: In a heartbreaking turn of events, Arjun Patolia, a London resident, died in the tragic Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad just days after fulfilling his late wife’s final wish. Arjun had travelled to Gujarat to immerse the ashes of his wife, Bharati, in her ancestral village of Vadia in Amreli district. The couple’s two young daughters, aged eight and four, are now left orphaned within the span of a month.

Arjun stayed on in India after conducting the rituals for Bharati, who passed away recently. On Friday, he boarded Air India flight AI-171 to London’s Gatwick airport, but the plane crashed merely 32 seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport. The aircraft failed to gain altitude beyond 672 feet before plummeting into the BJ Medical College complex, claiming 241 lives onboard and four more on the ground.

Locals in his hometown and in London are in mourning. “Arjun’s father had passed away earlier, and his mother is in Surat. The family is shattered,” a neighbour said.

Among the victims was also former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, who was on his way to visit his son in the UK. Only one passenger, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived the crash.

Air India and Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran described it as one of the darkest days in the group’s history. “To lose so many lives at once is incomprehensible. We stand with the families during this tragedy,” he said.