Ahmedabad plane crash: Families of AI 171 crash victims grapple with flight fears, anxiety

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Wreckage of the crashed Air India plane being lifted through a crane, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on June 14, 2025. File | Photo Credit: PTI

Almost a year after the AI 171 plane crash in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, that claimed 260 lives, grief has not faded for the victims' families as some still fear boarding a flight, while others are taking counselling to cope with the lasting trauma.

For many families and eyewitnesses, the tragedy did not end with the crash. Diu resident Rafik Arab has not boarded a flight since losing his 25‑year‑old son Faizan, one of the passengers on the London-bound plane on June 12 last year, and still lives with a deep fear of air travel.

Faizan had been pursuing Islamic studies in the U.K. and was travelling there after meeting his family in Diu. His last text to his father was: "Papa, I have boarded the flight and I am going."

“Who could have imagined it would be his last text?” Mr. Rafik told PTI. "We haven’t flown since that day. Even the sound of a plane overhead unsettles us, a reminder of how 260 lives vanished in seconds," he said. Faizan's mother and two younger brothers continue to struggle with his absence. "They miss him a lot," Mr. Rafik said.

For Surat-based woman Mukti Vansadiya, the tragedy took away her parents, Divya (60) and Arjunsinh (65), and her peace. "My parents were my only light," she said. Her parents were on their first international trip — and first time on an airplane — travelling to London to visit their elder daughter.

"It's a big thing for middle-class people to travel abroad. They were excited like children. I had told them that if they experience turbulence, they should not get scared and everything would be fine," she recalled.

The family had originally booked another connecting flight but later changed to the Ahmedabad departure so the elderly couple would feel more comfortable travelling with Gujarati-speaking passengers.

The final moments before departure remain etched in Mukti’s memory. “At the airport, I touched my m