6 min readVadodaraJun 11, 2026 02:42 AM IST
First published on: Jun 11, 2026 at 01:27 AM IST
For a year since the devastating crash of Air India flight in Ahmedabad, the Khimani family of Dahinsara village in Gujarat’s Kutch still struggles to speak of 35-year-old Anil Khimani in the past tense — grief has not arrived as a single moment of acceptance, but as a slow pain carried through unfinished conversations, unanswered calls and the unbearable silence left behind by a man who had stepped out of home believing he would return with better prospects for his family.
What remains, instead, are fragments — Anil’s daughters growing up without him, wife making attempts to reduce financial dependence, parents staring at the doorway a little too long, a brother replaying old conversations wondering whether one different decision could have changed everything. In the Khimani household, the silence after June 12 still refuses to die down.
“It still feels he’s settled abroad, somehow,” says his elder brother, Rakesh Khimani, his voice faltering between pauses. “Even today, sometimes it feels as though he may call or just barge through the gate into the courtyard…”
Anil was among the 260 persons — 241 persons on board and 19 on the ground – killed when Air India flight AI-171 crashed into a medical hostel complex in Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar area shortly after take off for London Gatwick last year. One passenger survived.
While families of many other victims had received the mortal remains of their departed loved ones within days, the Khimanis had waited in agony for weeks. Anil’s remains were so badly charred that forensic experts struggled to establish a DNA match. He became the last passenger victim to be identified on the occasion of Ashadi Beej — the Kutchi New Year — on June 27, 2025. Just a day before, losing hope and in search of a closure, the family had performed a symbolic funeral in Dahinsara, using an effigy wrapped in his clothes as advised by priests of the Swaminarayan sect, which the family is a part of.
When officials finally informed them that a DNA match had been confirmed, they held another funeral with the mortal remains.
‘He had bigger dreams’
Even now, the memories of those days remain raw. “The initial months were very tough,” Rakesh says.
“There are no words to describe grief. Sometimes, relatives come home, someone mentions his name, and suddenly everyone breaks down again. My parents are still unable to fully believe it. They continue living in denial at times.”
This year, the Kutch New Year falls on July 16 and for the family, it will bring another painful reminder of Anil’s absence. “What was once a festive family gathering has become a day layered with this memory,” Rakesh says.
Anil left behind his wife and two daughters — an elder daughter, now 7, and a younger child who was barely five months old when Anil was killed in the crash. The weight of survival has quietly reshaped the household. “The older daughter often asks about her father… We just distract her and make up stories that he is abroad. As she grows, she will slowly learn the truth herself. What else can we tell her or explain? The younger daughter, of course, is growing up without knowing her father…” Rakesh says.
He adds that Anil’s widow has taken up additional tailoring assignments to support the family, while Rakesh now manages their construction and maintenance business alone.
“I feel the pinch every day… There was a lot of work, and he handled most of it. I would just visit the sites to supervise. He was an all-rounder… carpenter, tile expert, maintenance work, everything. We built the business together. I had even reasoned with him that we had good work here… but he had bigger dreams…”
An experienced craftsman who had earlier worked in Seychelles, Anil planned to explore opportunities in the United Kingdom during his six-month visitor visa stay. According to Rakesh, the journey almost did not happen. “I was telling him not to go,” he recalls. “His first visa application had been rejected. This was his second attempt. I told him there was enough work here already. But he wanted to build a better future. He said he would explore his options abroad…”
There is another memory that haunts Rakesh — the decision to take the ill-fated Thursday flight. Rakesh says, “We were not even planning to take that flight… I had suggested that he leave on Sunday instead so the family and children could come to Ahmedabad for sightseeing. But this ticket was cheaper, and the travel agent said luggage expenses would also be covered. Anil chose this flight and I conceded…”
The family says spirituality has become their primary source of strength. Followers of the Swaminarayan faith, they immersed themselves more deeply in prayer over the past year. Since the crash, the family has held prayers every 12th of the month and carried out charitable activities in Anil’s memory throughout the year. Yet acceptance remains incomplete.
“We strongly believe it was kismet (fate)… It was his kismet to depart like this and ours to lose him… His time in this world was only till that point. It was God’s will,” Rakesh says.
Asked whether the family plans legal action against Air India or Boeing, Rakesh says, “We are not in touch with other families and have not yet decided to pursue litigation. We keep reading about the investigations, but honestly, we are not educated enough to understand all the technical details. The truth should come out, but what difference will it make now? He will not come back.”
Anil Khimani 
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