AI 171 crash: A year on, still seeking truth in debris of uncertainty

Ahmedabad: The haze of unanswered questions has not been cleared even on the first anniversary of one of the deadliest aviation disasters in history. For Parth Patel of Anand, June 12 is not merely the date on which Air India Flight AI 171 crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad, killing 260 passengers and people on the ground.Patel said it is a date on which grief was created to simmer indefinitely, fuelled by a “frustrating lack of answers, accountability and closure”. The crash claimed the lives of his mother, Hemangini, 58, uncle Rajnikant, 58, and aunt Divya, 54. The three had boarded the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for what was meant to be a joyous family journey to London, where Parth’s cousin Dhvani was scheduled to receive her MBA degree from Middlesex University.“Everyone is calling this a tragedy. That is wrong. It was a massive systemic failure,” Patel said. “A year has passed and we still do not have a final report or any real accountability. The promises of justice remain only words on paper.”Where is the report?The anguish about missing accountability and the long-pending report is shared by the kin of other victims. One of them is Devarsh Patel, the son of Dilip and Meena Patel from Ahmedabad, who died in the crash.“We want closure, and the data from the black box must be given to the relatives so that we can learn about the reason for the crash,” Devarsh said. “Even after a year, the agencies have failed to do so.” Anil Vyas of Banswara, Rajasthan, who lost his daughter Komi, goes a step farther. “We are demanding that the entire data be made public,” he said. For David Christian, who lost his 38-year-old son Rozar and daughter-in-law Rachana in the crash, the report is a matter of right, not just closure. “We deserve to know the cause of the crash,” said Christian, a resident of Ahmedabad.Rajesh Avaiya of Surat lost his younger brother, Hardik, 29, and Hardik’s fiancee in the crash. Avaiya’s anger over the delayed report has spurred a grim question. He asked, “Is there anything so serious in that report that the authorities are afraid of publishing it? We have tried to talk to ministers, but they are not responding properly.”For Vadodara resident Edwin Pateliya, 71, the wait for the report deepens the trauma. His daughter, Elcena Makwana, 42, died in the crash. “My wife Agnes and I want to know the truth,” he said. Elcena was a British citizen.Vadodara’s Mohammad Shethwala, 28, now in the UK, lost his wife Sadikabanu Tapeliwala, 24, and their 2-year-old UK-born daughter Fatima in the crash. “I have not had any proper answers on why this happened. The one-year anniversary is very difficult,” he said.Compensation is not end-allAnother common assertion that threads the feelings of survivors’ kin is that compensation cannot be used as a ‘case-closed’ button.Parth Patel has called for greater transparency from Air India, the Tata Group, and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), arguing that the disaster cannot be forgotten with compensation.“Everybody thinks compensation has been offered and the matter is finished. It is not,” he said. “A family’s grief cannot be reduced to a corporate line item. We want transparency, responsibility, and justice. If systemic failures contributed to the crash, those responsible must be held accountable.”Rajesh Avaiya of Surat said that authorities and the airline must bear greater responsibility than merely offering payouts. “If they think that their duty is limited to paying ex gratia amounts, let me tell them we are ready to pay more than that,” he said. “The authorities should be taking our calls, answering our emails, and offering us strong support.”Belongings not returned yetA year on, many victims’ personal effects have not yet been returned to their families. For the kin, their departed loved ones’ phones or papers may contain important documents; more than that, the items carry poignant memories of time spent together.Devarsh Patel said, “Passengers’ luggage was distributed in a piecemeal fashion. We have not received the mobile phones of my parents despite writing multiple emails seeking them.” He said, “The phones contain private information. Though we are following up regularly, we are simply not getting answers.”Devarsh’s sister, Amishi Sodha, said that her mother was wearing gold ornaments on the AI flight. “There is no mention of their recovery by the authorities,” she said. “We have received only a minuscule part of our parents’ luggage.”Avaiya said, “Air India had sent us a picture of my brother Hardik’s phone. I identified it as belonging to Hardik, but the airline wanted the bill for its purchase.” He said, “We contacted Hardik’s friends in London and managed to get the bill with their help. We sent the bill to the airline, which is now not responding to our queries.”The family members said they spotted Hardik’s bag in various news reports. “The bag had Hardik’s name tag. But the airline maintains that it does not have such a bag,” Avaiya said.Even survivor seeks clarityBritish national Viswashkumar Ramesh, 39, who walked out of seat 11A as flames engulfed the aircraft, lost his younger brother Ajay in the disaster. A year on, Viswash is still battling burns and other injuries and severe psychological trauma.His mentor, Sanjiv Patel, said what weighs most on Ramesh is the lack of clarity. “He is looking to make some sense of what happened,” he said.Let this not happen againIn April this year, 15-odd families came together in Ahmedabad to intensify their demand for the release of the data from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR).A letter, addressed to PM Narendra Modi and marked to the civil aviation minister, the AAIB, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, made an emotional appeal.The letter read, “I am writing this letter as a family member of a loved one who died in the Air India 171 crash. We humbly request the authority to please release the CVR and the FDR data.”The letter goes on to say, “We believe that with this information, steps can be taken to prevent such a tragedy from happening again in the future.”Scripture is giving us solaceSpeaking to TOI, Rushabh, the son of ex-CM Vijay Rupani, urged people to have faith in the probe. “This is a major investigation. We hope the investigators are looking at all possible factors,” he said. Rushabh added that the family has drawn strength from the Sanskrit phrase “Charaiveti, Charaiveti,” which translates to “Keep walking” or “Keep moving forward.” “I believe life must go on, and he (Vijaybhai) continues to shower his blessings on us,” he said.Ex gratia paid to 91% of familiesResponding to TOI queries, Air India stated that interim payment of Rs 25 lakh has been made to families of 96% of the deceased, whereas the ex gratia payment of Rs 1 crore has been paid to 91% of the families. “Remaining cases primarily constitute situations where documentation is incomplete, where there are ongoing family disputes, or where families have declined to accept payment,” reads the response from AI.AI spokesperson said 94% of those injured on the ground were also paid one-time compensation. The officials clarified that the amount is “beyond legal compensation requirements”. Regarding the passengers’ personal belongings found at the crash site, the spokesperson said that over 22,000 items were recovered and preserved. Of the associated personal belongings of the 187 deceased individuals, those belonging to 139 have been returned, whereas of the unassociated personal belongings related to 77 deceased persons, those related to 60 have been returned. “The remaining cases primarily constitute situations in which documentation is incomplete, or where families have declined to accept personal belongings.”A total of 15 families have declined to take the personal belongings of the deceased, according to an AI spokesperson. AI claimed that 25 digital devices have been recovered, out of which 16 have been returned to the respective families.— Prashant Rupera, Naomi Canton, Parag Dave, Tushar Tere, Parth Shastri, Niyati Parikh, Vishal Patadiya and Nimesh Khakhariya