Newlywed Khushboo From Rajasthan Among Victims Of Air India Flight Crash

Air India Flight Crash: Among the 242 people on board the Air India flight that crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad was 21-year-old Khushboo, a newly married woman from Balotra district in Rajasthan. She was on her way to London to meet her husband, who works as a doctor in the UK. 

Khushboo had arrived in Ahmedabad on Wednesday night with her father and cousin. Before she boarded the flight, her father, Madan Singh, took a photo with her at the airport and shared it on WhatsApp with the message: “Ashirwad Khushboo beta, going to London.”
 

Moments later, while the family was driving back home, they heard the heartbreaking news about the crash.

Khushboo had married Vipul in January this year. Vipul had gone back to London two months after their wedding to continue his work as a doctor. Since then, Khushboo had been living between her husband’s and her parents’ homes, waiting for her passport and travel documents to be ready.

Her departure was an emotional moment for the family. She had tears in her eyes as she hugged her mother and siblings before leaving home. Her father, who runs a sweets shop and also farms in the village, was driving the car that took her to the airport, along with his nephew.


Local BJP youth leader Durga Singh Rajpurohit said that the family had left their village on Wednesday and reached Ahmedabad late that night. Now, Khushboo’s younger siblings, two sisters and a brother are struggling to deal with the sudden loss.

Flight AI171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, was headed to London from Ahmedabad. It took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1:39 pm on Thursday. Just a few minutes into the flight, it sent out a mayday call and crashed into a government hospital hostel near the airport. The plane caught fire immediately after crashing, causing heavy destruction.

Officials said that by 11:30 pm on Thursday, 265 bodies had been recovered from the crash site. The Indian Medical Association confirmed that three medical students were among the dead, and several other people were injured. The victims included people from India, the UK, Portugal, and Canada.

Government teams including the Army, NDRF, and CISF quickly started a large rescue operation. Flights at the airport were stopped for some time and later started again. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is looking into the cause of the crash.

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