Was the Air India Crash Preventable? Grief and Questions Remain
As I talk about this today, I can't help but reflect on the unimaginable grief so many families are going through after the recent Air India Flight 171 crash. This wasn’t just another tragic headline—it was a devastating blow to hundreds of lives, families, and communities. And now, with the release of the preliminary investigation report, the pain for those left behind seems only deeper, with more questions than answers.
On June 12, a London-bound Air India flight crashed into a suburban neighborhood in Ahmedabad, just moments after takeoff. The crash killed 241 of the 242 people on board, along with 19 individuals on the ground. The preliminary findings released in India have confirmed that fuel to the plane’s engines was suddenly cut off seconds after takeoff. What remains unclear is how or why that happened.
Listening to the recovered cockpit voice recordings, one pilot is heard asking, “Why did you cut off?” and the other responds, “I did not do so.” That haunting exchange is all we have for now—and for the families, it's not enough. It feels more like an enigma than an explanation.
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Imtiyaz Ali lost his brother, sister-in-law, and their two children in the crash. After reading the report, he described it as reading more like a “product description” than an honest breakdown of a catastrophic failure. “We want to know exactly what happened,” he says—not for closure, because nothing can bring their loved ones back, but for accountability.
Shweta Parihar’s husband Abhinav was also on that flight. He had planned to return to London later, but decided to fly early—an innocent decision that ended in tragedy. Shweta speaks through tears about their 11-year-old son, Vihaan, who now says he’ll never fly Air India again. “He misses his dad badly,” she says. And you can feel her helplessness.
Then there’s Badasab Syed, who lost his brother, sister-in-law, and their children. For his family, the grief is multiplied, especially for their 83-year-old mother, who has barely been able to process the loss. “She is weak. I don’t think she can even tell us how she feels,” Badasab shares.
The families are asking a question that now echoes across India and beyond: Was this avoidable? And that question haunts every page of the report, every detail of the cockpit audio, and every tear shed by those mourning today.
There is a final report due in a year, but what families really need is transparency, urgency, and accountability—before time dulls public memory, and the truth gets lost in bureaucracy. This isn’t just about technical failure. It’s about lives, trust, and justice.
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