Ahmedabad Air India crash: Among AI-171 victims, a child who never set foot on a plane

An Air India passenger plane with over 240 people onboard crashed on Thursday. (Image: PTI)

The cries of Kalpesh Patni echoed through the corridor outside the post-mortem room at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on Thursday night. He was grieving the death of his 13-year-old brother, Akash, whose charred body lay inside, awaiting DNA identification.

Akash was not a passenger on the ill-fated Air India Flight AI-171; in fact, he had never been on a plane. His family, recently evicted from their home, had been living on the pavement near their tea stall in the Meghaninagar area, opposite the UG hostels of BJ Medical College—the site where the aircraft crashed.

According to a report by the Indian Express, Akash was asleep on the pavement when the aircraft crashed into nearby buildings. Debris and highly flammable aviation fuel spread across the area, causing fires that reached temperatures of up to 700°C. His family believes it was this fire that claimed the boy’s life.

The tragedy resulted in at least 24 fatalities on the ground, including four medical students and the wife of a doctor. By midnight Thursday, the hospital had received around 265 bodies, most of them from the London-bound flight, with Air India confirming 241 onboard fatalities.

Outside the morgue, Akash’s grandmother, Babiben Patni, tried to stay composed while comforting her surviving grandson. However, her voice trembled as she recounted the moment the crash occurred. “He was sleeping on the road when the plane fell out of the sky,” she said. “Maaro kaanudo maari saame badi gayo (My Kanhaiyya caught fire in front of my eyes).”

"Kanhaiyya" and "Kaanudo" are affectionate names often used for young boys, derived from Lord Krishna’s childhood form.

Babiben added, “Akash was sleeping just across from our kitli (tea stall). We had nowhere else to go. We were thrown out of our home a fortnight ago.”

Akash’s mother, Sita Suresh Patni, also suffered burns in the incident. “She was working at the tea stall when she heard him screaming,” Babiben said. “She ran to save him and tried to douse the fire but got burned on the right side of her body.”

Meanwhile, Akash’s father, Suresh, had gone to provide a blood sample at Kasauti Bhavan for DNA testing, joining many parents waiting to identify the remains of their children.

As the family prepared for a nightlong vigil, Babiben stood by her grandson Kalpesh, both devastated and quietly supporting each other in their mourning.