Air India: Victims’ belongings returned, 15 families didn’t take back anything

Following the crash, Air India set up a ‘Family Returns  Centre’ (FRC) in Ahmedabad to return the 8,000 identified personal effects, where the next of kin visited by appointment and were given the belongings with “due dignity”, airline officials said.

At the centre, which was active till February, the families were given a 45-day window to browse a related portal, click on images they found familiar, place the items in a “cart” and reconnect with the airline for processing the claim, officials said.

Of the 22,000 personal belongings recovered, around 8,000, including passports and other documents, could be identified. The remaining 14,000 items could not be directly linked to any individual and went to the “unassociated personal belongings” portal.

“Families of 15 of the deceased declined to take the personal belongings. Also, 25 digital devices were recovered, of which 16 have been returned to the families, with remaining cases primarily constituting situations in which documentation is incomplete, or where families have declined to accept personal belongings,” the Air India spokesperson said, adding that the devices are mostly phones, laptops and tablets.

Among those who did not claim any of the personal belongings was the family of 24-year-old Dirth Patel, a “budding cricketer”. Speaking to this newspaper earlier, Dirth’s brother Krutik had said they did not want his mother “to go through the trauma all over again”. In another case, Ahmedabad-based entrepreneur Trupti Soni, who lost her brother and two sisters-in-law in the crash, had described the recovery process as “fatiguing and painful”.

The dead included former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, who was travelling to join his wife at his daughter home in London; a young father returning to his children after his wife’s last rites; a son who had come to surprise his father on Eid; and, a Canadian gay couple in India to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

“Of the associated personal belongings pertaining to 187 deceased, personal belongings have been returned for 139 deceased in India and in the UK, with remaining cases primarily constituting situations in which documentation is incomplete, or where families have declined to accept personal belongings. Associated personal belongings are items that could be confidently linked to an individual based on documentation, labelling, location of recovery, or verified identifiers,” an airline official said.

“Of the unassociated personal belongings pertaining to 77 deceased, personal belongings have been returned to families of 60 deceased in India and in the UK. Belongings have been handed over physically and personally in a manner that honours families’ grief and privacy,” the official added.

The belongings listed on the portal included a white sweater with motifs of trees and trucks meant for a baby; a blue badge reading ‘Dad to-be’; and several bunches of rakhis — one meant for a child and embedded with a Superman-like character.

There were also prayer books and beads, kite strings with spools, toys, kitchenware, clothes, surgical scissors, burnt wrist-watch remains, hair accessories, eyeglasses, passports and more. Several pieces of gold and silver jewellery, marked as “yellow” or “white” metal, were also on the list, as shared by families.

Of the 19 individuals injured on the ground, 94 per cent have received either full and final one-time compensation or interim compensation, based on the nature of injury and any loss of livelihood, the airline official said. The remaining cases are primarily those where documentation is incomplete or where there are ongoing family disputes.

“The remaining individuals collected a form from the help desk after the crash but have since not submitted them. With most interim payments disbursed, Air India has begun the process for final compensation and is engaging with families,” the official said.

Following the crash, apart from the interim compensation, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran had announced ex-gratia assistance of Rs 1 crore each to families of victims as part of the Tata group’s philanthropic commitments, and set up the AI 171 Memorial and Welfare Trust to support those affected.

So far, the official said, these payments have been disbursed to 91 per cent of families of the deceased, with remaining cases involving incomplete documentation or families that have declined payment. “As of date, CEOs of Tata companies have met 152 of the 165 affected families in India and the UK to express condolences and offer support,” the airline official said.