Families wait in agony for updates on victims of Air India plane crash

Ahmedabad: For two days after the Air India plane crash, Lalita Thhakore sat on the pavements outside the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, refusing to leave the area until she got any news of her daughter and mother-in-law.

Lalita and her mother-in-law Sarala used to work in the Medical College Hostel canteen. Lalita, her daughter and Sarala were in the canteen when the plane crashed. The mayhem that followed saw her rushing out alone.

"Someone told me they went down and I came out and started looking for them. But then the police stopped me from re-entering and I lost them... Please get my daughter and mother-in-law back," she says as she breaks down in sharp wails.


Another victim Akash Patni was standing at his mother's tea stall as a scooters stopped around as the plane crashed. The fire spread immediately and the teenager was engulfed in the fire. Akash's mother Sitaben rushed to save her son but could not. Akash's father Suresh submitted his DNA sample to identify his son's body.

As he sits around the old trauma centre of Civil Hospital, his mother Bobiben breaks out in loud wails. "My grandchild was in flames right before my eyes, how do I live with that?"