The haunting final hours of some of the passengers aboard Air India Flight A171

“Journeys Interrupted”: The Lives Behind Flight A171

As Air India Flight A171 taxied down the runway on June 12, 2025, its passengers were a mosaic of stories—some mundane, others extraordinary. None could have imagined that their journeys would end in tragedy just moments later.

The Statesman’s Final Flight Among the passengers was Vijay Rupani, former Chief Minister of Gujarat. Traveling to London for a private engagement, his presence added a political weight to the tragedy. Tributes poured in from across party lines, remembering him as a leader who had shaped Gujarat’s modern identity. His seat—2A in business class, was found among the wreckage, a stark reminder that status offers no shield from fate.

A Brother’s Bond, Broken In seat 11A, near the emergency exit, sat Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national returning to the UK with his brother. They had just wrapped up a family visit in India. When the cabin lights flickered and the aircraft began its fatal descent, Vishwash instinctively reached for the exit. He escaped—burned, bloodied, and alone. His brother, seated beside him, remains unaccounted for. “We were talking about what to eat on the flight,” he later told reporters. “Then everything went dark.”

The Students Who Never Graduated On the ground, the plane struck the doctors’ hostel at B. J. Medical College, where dozens of medical students had gathered for lunch. Among them was Anjali Mehta, who had just passed her final exams and was preparing for a celebratory dinner with her parents. Her dreams of becoming a pediatrician ended in an instant. Her stethoscope was later found in the rubble, still looped around her chair.

A Honeymoon Deferred Forever Newlyweds Ravi and Priya Sharma had changed their travel plans last-minute, opting for Flight A171 after their original flight was delayed. They were en route to London for their honeymoon. Friends recall Priya’s excitement about seeing snow for the first time. Their wedding photos, still circulating on social media, now serve as a digital memorial.

The Pilots’ Final Call Captain Sumit Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kundar were seasoned aviators. Just before the crash, Sabharwal’s voice crackled over the radio: “No power… no thrust… going down…” It was a chilling Mayday call that offered a glimpse into the cockpit’s final seconds. Both men died trying to save their passengers.

Each of these lives, interrupted mid-sentence, adds depth to the statistics. Behind every seat number was a story, a dream, a destination. And though the flight never reached its intended runway, the memories of those aboard continue to travel far beyond the wreckage.

Aircraft and Route

According to Wikipedia, the aircraft involved was an 11-year-old Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner registered as VT-ANB with serial number 36279. The aircraft was assembled at the Boeing Everett Factory, and included fuselage sections made at the Boeing facility in Charleston. It was delivered to the airline on 28 January 2014. It was powered by two General Electric GEnx-1B67 engines.

Air India began running routes from Gatwick in 2013. At the time of the crash they operated twelve departures a week, including five to Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad Airport itself is surrounded by dense residential areas.

Passengers and Crew

The flight was carrying 242 people, including 230 passengers—11 of them children and 2 infants—along with 2 pilots and 10 flight attendants. The passenger manifest included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, 7 Portuguese, and a Canadian. The flight was commanded by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kundar.