Ahmedabad plane crash: Man returns wife’s ashes to India, dies in Air India AI-171 tragedy days later

Among the 265 people killed in the Air India Flight 171 crash on 12 June was Arjun Manubhai Patolia, a 36-year-old UK-based Indian man. Arjun had travelled from London to Gujarat to fulfil the last wish of his late wife, Bharatiben, to have her ashes immersed in her ancestral homeland, in a local river. The couple’s two young daughters, aged eight and four, were waiting for their father’s return in London.

Arjun’s wife, Bharatiben Patolia, passed away in London just a week earlier. Before her death, she had asked that her ashes be returned to her native village in Amreli district, Gujarat. Arjun arrived in India alone to carry out the ritual, completing it at a local river regarded as sacred in Hindu tradition.

After completing the immersion rites, Arjun boarded Air India Flight 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a residential area near the airport within 33 seconds of take-off at 1.40 pm local time. All passengers and crew onboard died, except for one survivor.

Arjun’s daughters, now orphaned within the span of a week, remain in London without an immediate guardian. Their father's death has left both families, in London and Gujarat, in mourning. Family members are now arranging for his last rites in Gujarat.

Residents of Wadia village, Arjun’s ancestral home in Amreli, were present during the immersion of Bharatiben’s ashes. Days later, the same village is in mourning after news of Arjun’s death. “He had a ticket on Air India flight AI171. He was supposed to go to London, but the accident happened,” his nephew Krish Patolia told India Today.

CCTV footage showed the aircraft taking off with a steep nose angle and landing gear still deployed before crashing and erupting in flames. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation confirmed that a mayday call was sent moments before the crash. The aircraft reached just 625 feet before descending rapidly.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site and the Civil Hospital, where identification of victims continues. Forensic teams and aviation regulators have launched a full investigation into the cause. Air India confirmed 229 passengers and 12 crew were onboard. One survivor, Vishwashumar Ramesh, told Hindustan Times, “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I stood up and ran.”