‘Why did it happen?’: Month after Air India plane crash, families of victims continue to look for answers

A statement quoting an airline spokesperson said Friday, that as on July 10, “Air India has released interim compensation to 92 families of the passengers, and those deceased at the accident site to help them meet their immediate financial needs.”

The documents related to 66 others have been verified and the interim compensation is being released “progressively to their families,” the statement said. A month after the crash, The Indian Express spoke to a few families that lost their loved ones on June 12.

She was 24 and recently married

In January, the Rajpurohits celebrated the wedding of their 24-year-old daughter Khushbu with much fanfare. She was supposed to fly to London to join her husband Vipul Singh, her first trip after exchanging vows. Instead, it was Singh who flew down to Ahmedabad and got busy with formalities for his dead wife, says Ravi Dadhich, Khushbu’s uncle. Her family had come down from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, to Ahmedabad to see Khushboo off. As the family was returning, they heard the news of the plane crash and came back to Ahmedabad.

“Khushbu’s husband Vipul and her parents are still struggling to come to terms with the loss and are not ready to talk much about it,” said Dadhich. “Khushbu’s parents have not been keeping well. Her father had to be hospitalised once after he complained of breathlessness. The entire family is still very disturbed,” Dadich added.

“Our son-in-law Vipul is still here. He had gone once or twice to Ahmedabad to complete some formalities with Air India,” he added. With the compensation money that they would get, the family plans to do something in Khushbu’s memory, said Dadich.

Waiting for the Black Box to speak

Pramukh Nanda, founder and director at leading automobile dealer Cargo Motors Ahmedabad Pvt Ltd, his wife Neha, and younger son Prayash were among those killed in the air crash. They were travelling to London to attend the convocation of their older son Pratham, 22, at Nottingham Trent University.

A month on, the family has decided to wait for the outcome of the investigation before making any move.

“We have been advised by our legal counsels to wait till the report of the black box is out. Though US-based law firms have contacted us for taking up the case against the airline and aircraft companies, we have not responded to them as we have our own legal experts based in the US and the UK,” Pranav Nanda, Pramukh’s younger brother, told The Indian Express Friday. Pratham, the only survivor from the family of Pranav’s elder brother, is now learning to run his father’s business. Till the crash, Pranav and Pramukh’s parents used to stay with their older son. Since Pramukh’s death, Pranav has been staying with his parents. The family is yet to file for claims from Air India.

‘Why did this happen? We want to know’

Questions abound at the sprawling Bopal home of the Sonis, another business family from Ahmedabad, who lost three members in the crash that left two brothers orphaned.

Ahmedabad-based entrepreneur Trupti Soni lost her brother Swapnil (45), his wife Yoga (44), and her sister-in-law Alpa (55). The trio was on a family trip to receive Alpa’s husband Nishit who was about to complete his 22,000-km road trip from Ahmedabad to London, and would have reunited with his family on June 13. Swapnil and Yoga’s sons, aged 19 and 9, are now left without parents.

“There has not been a single day we have been able to forget the incident. It is Swapnil’s birthday today. The family decided to plant and mass distribute saplings as Swapnil was very fond of plants,” Trupti shared.

Soni told The Indian Express, “We are going ahead with the litigation, with the (help of) US-based legal team, against Boeing. We have discussed the case with the law firm which has experience in aviation suits on behalf of the victims of earlier crash incidents. We are of the opinion that with the involvement of big players and international governments, the data may be manipulated. It is a fair question which all the families are right in raising — Why did it (the crash) happen? If not satisfied with the report, we will also seek an independent inquiry.”

The Sonis, too, have not submitted the compensation claim form by Air India. “Since there is a clause of indemnity, which we need clarity on, we are not going ahead with the claim,” Soni told The Indian Express.

The Air India has shared forms seeking information about the passengers and their kin, among other details.

The interim compensation being offered is in addition to the Rs 1 crore support announced by Tata Sons.

The airline has said it was reaching out to those who were injured and the families of those who lost their lives on the ground “to initiate the compensation process for them.”