Unending search: My mother, daughter were in hostel mess at time of crash, says distraught man

Twenty-four hours after one of aviation’s worst disasters, Ravi Thakor was a picture of agony and pain as he went about trying to trace his mother and toddler daughter, who were at BJ Medical College hostel mess into which Air India’s Ahmedabad-London flight crashed minutes after take-off, killing all but one on board.

At least 265 persons were killed on Thursday when a London-bound Air India plane carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. While 241 persons who died were passengers, other fatalities were on the ground.

“My mother, wife and I work at the BJ Medical College mess. Junior doctors come here to have their lunch, while food for senior doctors is packed and taken to the civil hospital as part of a tiffin service. At 1 am on Thursday, we packed food and went to the hospital, while my mother and my daughter were in the mess,” a distraught Thakor told reporters.

Since he, his father and wife are out as part of the tiffin service, the toddler is left with the grandmother while she prepares food at the mess, Thakor said on Friday.

“At the time of the crash, my mother Sarla and daughter Aadya were in the mess. It has been 24 hours but I have not got any clue about what has happened to them. I have gone through the lists provided by authorities and have searched for them in civil and private hospitals all through the night,” he said, his pain at “unresponsive” authorities evident.

“All the missing students have been located and bodies identified. Only my mother and daughter are untraceable. The guards in the mess are not letting anyone in. I think my mother and daughter may have gone to the ground floor using the stairs. All we want authorities to do is allow us to look around for our satisfaction,” Thakor pleaded.

Among those who were killed on the ground were four MBBS students and a doctor’s wife, while several students bore the impact of aircraft parts smashing into the dining hall of the multi-storey hostel building during lunch hours, police had earlier said.

A cook who identified herself as Meena Mistry said she and others were making rotis at the time of the crash.

“We first thought it was a cylinder explosion, but when a massive fireball was spotted, we knew it was something far bigger and sinister. We just rushed out to save our lives, leaving behind keys, phones etc. My two-wheeler was gutted. It had suddenly gone fully dark. When we came down the stairs, we saw the aircraft turning into a ball of fire, she said, Mistry recounted.

Neemaben Nigam, another cook, too thought it was a cylinder blast before the magnitude of the incident sunk in.

“We have been cooking for doctors and students for 30 years. We are a team of 15 persons. After we saw flames, we just ran without looking back,” Nigam said.