‘All we have left are photos’: Families of crash victims hold on to final memories

From London to Ahmedabad, grief ripples across continents as the full toll of the tragedy comes into focus

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.

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“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.

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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.”

’It was like a big blast’

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.” 

Building a life between two worlds – India and UK

Dr Prateek Joshi was the only son of Mohan and Sunita Joshi from the northern state of Rajasthan.

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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.”